His Only Weakness
by blueliath
Summary: Kenshin Himura is hired to kill Kaoru Sagara's brother, Sano, but he doesn't go through with it. However, there's still someone who wants the siblings dead. Will Kenshin be able to protect them, or has his love for Kaoru made him weak? AU Complete.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Rurouni Kenshin, (shakes head), it's not mine.  
  
Untitled for now.  
  
A/N: this is all I have of this story, so this is partially an apology and a warning. I have certain ideas about where I want it to go, but as you can see I haven't even written enough to pick a title yet. Please give me feedback. Thanks. ---BlueLiath.  
  
Sanosuke stepped into his little apartment and waited for the weight of the day to come crashing down on him. Instead, a man stepped out from the darkness. . . Sano immediately flipped on the light switch and, just as soon, wanted to turn it off again.  
  
"H-how did you get in here?" He asked the stranger: The stranger with long, tied-back, scarlet hair. . . the stranger who had a dangerous looking scar on his left cheek and menacing golden eyes. . .  
  
"I came in when you opened the door," the stranger answered in a light tenor voice that somehow just made sense with his small frame. He was dressed in jeans and a blue t-shirt and black leather jacket . . . He looked like he was maybe seventeen or eighteen, but something about him made Sano think he was older.  
  
"That's not possible," Sanosuke said.  
  
He'd only been living alone for a while and already someone had broken into his apartment. The thought made him slightly angry.  
  
"Get out of my apartment," Sanosuke said picking up the baseball bat he kept leaning up against the wall next to the entrance.  
  
The young man shook his head. "No, I followed you for a reason and I'm going to fulfill that reason." At those words, the man drew a silver- colored, metal gun with a silencer already screwed onto it from the inside of his jacket and aimed it at Sanosuke.  
  
Sano swallowed and said, "Why are you doing this? As far as I know, I've never even met you, let alone done anything to offend you, before."  
  
The stranger shook his head, "You might as well know, I was hired to kill you."  
  
Sanosuke frowned, "Who would want me dead?"  
  
"They told me not to disclose their name."  
  
"I know them?" Sano asked.  
  
The man shrugged, "I didn't ask." He cocked the gun with a practiced movement, and Sano hefted the bat defensively.  
  
The man paused, tilting his head to the side. "You would pit a wooden club against a lightning quick bullet?" His voice held no sarcasm-only a certain cold curiosity.  
  
"I'm not going to let you just come in and take my life from me," Sano answered defiantly.  
  
"You really have no choice," the scarlet haired man said.  
  
Sano watched as the trigger was pulled. . .almost as if he were seeing it in slow motion. He flung himself to the side hoping he could avoid the bullet enough to survive. He landed on the floor and heard the bullet splinter into the wood of the door. Sano came up off the ground and threw himself into a charge-baseball bat raised to strike the stranger.  
  
Except that the stranger wasn't there anymore. One second he was standing there, a look of surprise on his face, the next Sanosuke was seeing an afterimage. He turned just in time to see him firing the gun again. Sano only had time to raise the bat. . .he charged again and was thrown to the floor. The bat was still clenched in his hand, but it splintered and cracked into two pieces. . .  
  
Sano rose unsteadily to his feet. "You shot the bat instead. . ." He realized. "Why didn't you kill me?"  
  
His hand ached from the impact of the bullet, but the rest of him remained in tact, if a little bruised.  
  
The amber-eyed man shook his head, "I'm amazed at your will to survive, Sanosuke Sagara," he said, "That is why I've decided to spare your life."  
  
Sano stared at him disbelievingly, his limbs beginning to tremble from shock.  
  
The stranger tucked his gun into his jacket and turned towards the door to leave.  
  
"W-wait, please tell me who hired you," Sanosuke called.  
  
The stranger stopped and said, "I don't know his name, and I believe his only grudge against you is that your father is Souzou Sagara."  
  
Sanosuke's father had been a police detective, and he'd made many enemies because he stood for justice.  
  
"My father's dead," Sanosuke said bitterly. "Are you telling me someone wants to punish /me/ for just being his son?"  
  
The stranger raised a brow at that and inclined his head. "It was interesting meeting you, Sanosuke, however, I must leave now."  
  
Sano glowered at the redhead. "What? You're not even going to tell me /your/ name?"  
  
The stranger's gold eyes widened slightly in surprise. "Kenshin Himura, however, my associates know me as Battousai the Manslayer." With that he swung around and strode out the door.  
  
Sano collapsed to his knees then fell forward. /At least that's over. . ./ He thought before he lost consciousness. 


	2. Chapter 2

Author's Note: Hmmm...this survived my time testing, rereading test. So, I decided I would write another chapter, whether it sucks or not. : shrug : :) B.L.  
  
~~~~  
  
Chapter 2  
  
Kenshin Himura left the Sagara boy's apartment with a strange feeling growing in the pit of his stomach. He'd truly meant to kill him. . .at first. Kenshin was not the type of man to leave a job undone. He was not the type of man that gave in to any sort of weakness. And letting that young man live, that could certainly be seen as a weakness.  
  
Kenshin crossed the street, watching carefully for cars. Once safely across, he let his mind drift back to his worries. Why had he let the boy live? Was it really the reason he had given? Because he respected a man who wouldn't die easily? Or was it perhaps. . .because Sanosuke had reminded him of himself, in a way?  
  
Kenshin snorted and pushed the errant thought from his mind, labeling it as foolishness. And that was exactly what letting Sanosuke live was: Foolish. He would have to kill the boy after all. He wasn't afraid of crossing the man who'd hired him. That wasn't what was bothering him. It was that he couldn't allow himself to be weak. No. Kenshin Himura was not the type of man to give in to weakness.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Kaoru Sagara heard a knock at the door. She sat up in bed and blinked. Was someone really knocking at the door? No one ever came over here, unless. . .was it her friend, Tae, from college? No. She would be at school. . . Could it be some debt collector? No, they would call. Who?  
  
Kaoru grumbled to herself and made her way out of her bedroom to the front door of her parents' house. She rubbed her eyes along the way, and pulled a Kleenex out of the box on the coffee table in the living room and blew her nose. She tossed the Kleenex away in the wastebasket beside the entryway. The person knocked again, and she frowned.  
  
"Annoying people. . ." she groused.  
  
She turned the knob and pulled on the door. "Sanosuke?" She asked blankly.  
  
Her brother entered the house and said irritably, "It's about time. . .I was knocking for like a half hour."  
  
Kaoru blinked and followed his lanky form into the living room. "What are you doing here?" She questioned, stupidly.  
  
Sano deposited himself on the couch and answered her, "Someone tried to kill me. A hit man actually." His tone was casual, but Kaoru could tell by the shaded look of worry, that he wasn't joking around.  
  
She sat down across from him in an armchair. "What do you mean? Who? Why?"  
  
"He said because the guy that hired him didn't like Dad," Sanosuke answered, sullenly.  
  
"Oh. . ." was all she could say. Now it made a little sense. Her father had been a cop. He'd made a lot of enemies, because he did the right thing. "But. . .you're okay. What happened?" Kaoru asked anxiously.  
  
Sanosuke snorted. "Oh, man. . .here's where it gets good, missy. He didn't kill me because he was 'amazed at my will to survive'." Sano looked extremely uncomfortable. "I had a baseball bat. . .he could've killed me, but he didn't." He finished with a grimace.  
  
Kaoru whistled. "Wow. . ." Then she frowned. "You idiot! You could've died! Why don't you have a gun?" She rose from her seat and crossed over to bonk him on his spiky head.  
  
"Owww! Hey!" Sano protested, trying to fend her off.  
  
"Or at least take self defense classes like me!" She continued berating him, all the while smacking him on the noggin.  
  
"I already know how to fight! Ouch! Missy! Stop!" Sanosuke pleaded.  
  
Kaoru finally simmered down. She sat back in her spot, and asked, "Do you think whoever it was will send another guy?"  
  
Sanosuke was quiet for a long time. Finally he replied, "I think they will." A second later he asked, "Why'd it take you so long to answer the door, anyway? Were you taking a shower, or what?"  
  
Kaoru frowned. "I was sleeping," she snapped.  
  
Sanosuke's brows shot up; his brown eyes twinkled evilly. "It's already one o'clock. Were you partying all night, or something?"  
  
"/No/, you big rooster head! I was not!" Kaoru answered, with a baleful expression.  
  
Sanosuke only smiled. "Was it a guy?" he questioned lazily.  
  
"No!" Kaoru growled.  
  
"Then it was a girl?" Sanosuke questioned with a snicker.  
  
Kaoru attacked her brother, and there was a moment when their figures were blurred by their rapid movements as they rough housed. Finally, Kaoru calmed down, and Sanosuke stopped teasing her for a bit.  
  
"You should call the police," Kaoru said.  
  
Sanosuke gave her a look. "I don't think so."  
  
"Hire a bodyguard," Kaoru said.  
  
Sanosuke made a face. "Missy, are you sure there's something more than air between your ears?"  
  
Kaoru stuck out her tongue, and just then there was a knock at the door. Kaoru retracted her tongue and glanced toward the door suspiciously.  
  
Sanosuke asked, "Are you expecting your girlfriend?"  
  
Kaoru gave him an icy look and said, "No. . ." She got up and went to answer the door. Cautiously, she pulled it open. Behind her, she heard Sanosuke draw in a sharp breath. She hadn't realized that he'd followed her. Her attention returned to the man standing on her late parents' porch.  
  
He had long, tied back, red hair. His eyes were a peculiar shade of amber. . .he was maybe an inch above her height. . .He looked harmless, except for that crisscrossed scar on his left cheek, and maybe those lion-like eyes. . . maybe not so harmless, after all.  
  
"S-Sano?" She stuttered, stepping back from the door.  
  
"I thought you'd changed your mind?" Sanosuke asked the strange man, harshly. She could hear a trembling beneath his voice.  
  
The man was silent. He gazed back and forth between Kaoru and Sanosuke. . . It seemed as if he was debating within himself about something. Kaoru held her breath. Finally, he stepped into the hall. By the look in his golden eyes, Kaoru could tell that he'd made his decision.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
a/n: hey, sorry for the cliffhanger, but I'm sure you've guessed that I won't let anyone die. Unless I don't like them. :) Just kidding. Blueliath. 


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Hey all who reviewed! Thanks a lot. It really boosts the confidence. ^__^ B.L.  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own Rurouni Kenshin, and I can't take anymore responsibility, so they can keep it.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Chapter 3  
  
Kenshin knocked on the door of the Sagara place. The house had first belonged to Souzou Sagara and his wife, but now it was owned by Sanosuke's sister, Kaoru. Actually, that wasn't quite true. It was owned by an anonymous person, who was to give the house to Kaoru when she turned twenty- one. Until that time, it was in that person's care. As were Sanosuke and his sister, until they were old enough to take care of themselves. In fact, that anonymous person was paying for Kaoru's college tuition. They'd been paying Sanosuke's, as well, until Sanosuke had gotten a job and chosen to pay for it himself.  
  
Kenshin was idly curious about who the mysterious guardian was. Their name was suspiciously hard to find. . .  
  
Just then, the door opened, and Kenshin found himself looking into a pair of strangely dark-blue eyes. It was Sanosuke's sister, Kaoru. For some reason, Kenshin hadn't been expecting her to answer the door. He hadn't been expecting her to look so young and innocent. . .and pretty, either.  
  
A more practical side of Kenshin told him that it would make it harder to kill Sanosuke, now, if Kaoru tried to help her brother.  
  
The girl appraised him for a moment and then her eyes widened and she stepped back into the hallway. "S-Sano?" She questioned in a small, frightened voice.  
  
Sanosuke, who was standing a ways behind his sister, said to Kenshin, his voice shaking slightly, "I thought you'd changed your mind?"  
  
Kenshin glanced between the two siblings. There was that strange sensation in his gut, again. If he killed Sanosuke now, then he would have to kill Kaoru, as well. It wouldn't be a good thing to have a witness. And it wasn't like his face was a hard one to remember. Especially if it was a face you remembered belonging to a man that killed your only living relative. But that had never bothered him before. . .why now?  
  
Maybe it was because it was obvious that these two cared for each other, and obvious that they loved and relied on each other. But that shouldn't matter to him. He was supposed to be a cold blooded, uncaring killer. But when he saw again that look of fear in Kaoru's eyes, he knew he couldn't do it. No, that was wrong---he wouldn't do it.  
  
Kenshin stepped into the hallway and shut the door behind him. He knew he wouldn't do anything to hurt this girl and her brother. Not now or ever. But just because /he/ wouldn't, it didn't mean that no one else would. The man that hired him would still want Sanosuke dead. But now that Kenshin knew that he wouldn't kill them, he knew he wouldn't let anyone else do so, either.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Sanosuke stepped in front of Kaoru, protectively. "If you're going to kill me, go ahead and do it, but leave Kaoru out of it." He tried to keep his voice steady, but he wasn't sure he was succeeding.  
  
'The Battousai' looked on him with that strangely emotionless expression. "I won't kill you. . .or your sister. But someone else might."  
  
"W-What are you talking about?" Kaoru questioned. She'd placed one hand on Sanosuke's back and was standing close behind him, peering around at Himura.  
  
Himura looked at her with that cold, yellow gaze and said, "I'm sure the man who hired me will send someone else to finish the job when he realizes that I'm not going to."  
  
"And why should that matter to you?" Sanosuke demanded.  
  
Himura brought his deadly eyes back to Sano. "Because I've decided not to let you die."  
  
Kaoru popped out from behind a stunned Sano, and shook her fist at Himura, "And what's that supposed to mean. Are you telling us that you're going to be Sano's bodyguard, or something?"  
  
"Missy. . ." Sanosuke warned, but Himura only raised an eyebrow. He answered her, "Yes, I suppose so."  
  
Kaoru lost a little color and retreated back behind Sanosuke. Sano hadn't ever seen his sister intimidated by anyone. It just went to show how very scary the 'Battousai' was. It took a minute, in which they all stood staring nervously at one another, for what Himura had said to sink in.  
  
When it did, Sanosuke retorted, "I'm not sure I want you to."  
  
Himura only looked at him with those frightening eyes, and Sano backed down, "But it's up to you, I guess. . ." He mumbled.  
  
Kaoru made a strange squeaking noise, then suddenly came out from behind Sano with a cheerful smile on her face. "Uhm, would you like some tea. . .uh. . .Mister. . .uhm?" Sanosuke hadn't told her Himura's name.  
  
"Kenshin Himura. . ." Himura replied, and for the first time, Sanosuke thought he saw some sort of emotion in those weird eyes. A second later, he decided it was just a trick of the light.  
  
"Would you like some tea, Mr. Himura?" Kaoru repeated, with that same oddly cheerful smile planted on her face.  
  
Himura seemed to hesitate, then he answered, "Yes, thank you."  
  
Sanosuke thought he would fall over from the shock, but Kaoru just smiled and replied, "Why don't we all go to the kitchen and sit down while I make the tea?"  
  
Sanosuke recovered from his state of near comatose, and turned to follow Kaoru into the kitchen. He barely heard Himura following from behind. . .He wasn't exactly the type of man Sanosuke wanted to turn his back to. It just didn't feel safe. . .But it wasn't like he would be any safer facing this man, either.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Kaoru led the way into the kitchen. The men sat down at opposite chairs at the round, wooden table on the right side of the room. Kaoru tried to make her heart slow down as she crossed over to the stove area and began shuffling around. She got out the tea bags and a medium sized pot. . .While she began making the tea, she wondered just what exactly Sanosuke and her were getting into by letting this guy be their bodyguard. First of all, hadn't he been about to kill them just a little while ago?  
  
Kaoru glanced circumspectly at the two eyeing each other warily. Well, Sano was eyeing Mr. Himura warily; Mr. Himura was looking at Sano with a cool expression. Actually, Kaoru wasn't sure 'cool' was the right word. 'Cool' actually gave an impression of some emotion. Kaoru wasn't sure Mr. Himura /had/ any.  
  
Kaoru shivered and poured the tea into some cups. She brought Sano's and Mr. Himura's over to the table and asked, "What would you like in your tea, Mr. Himura?"  
  
Mr. Himura looked up at her, and she wondered if it was even possible for his eyes to be that color. "No, thank you," he said.  
  
Kaoru covered a shudder with a brilliantly false smile. She went to get her cup of tea, and came back to sit at the table. She realized, a second later, that she was sitting between Sano and Mr. Himura. It didn't seem like a very safe place to be, at the moment.  
  
/Oh, man. . ./ she thought. /What's going to happen, now?/  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Sanosuke asked, "So, are you going to tell us who hired you, now?"  
  
Himura answered with deadly quietness, "I told you, I don't know his name. And, at the time, I didn't really care."  
  
Sanosuke tried not to wince. "What about the way he looked? Or anything. . .?"  
  
Himura answered, "He looked like an average, wealthy, ruthless ruler of the underworld. . .but I really don't pay much attention, anymore."  
  
Sano heard Kaoru make another strangled, little noise and ask under her breath, "Is he joking?"  
  
Himura eyed her strangely and said, "No. . ."  
  
Kaoru turned a very odd shade of white, and squeaked out hoarsely, "Oh."  
  
It seemed as if Himura was about to say something else when all of a sudden he stilled. He seemed to be listening to something. . .a noise that was coming from far away, perhaps. Then he blinked and said sharply, "Get down now!" He pulled at Kaoru's arm and threw himself and her to the ground just as gunfire came shattering through the windows of the kitchen.  
  
Sanosuke flung himself to the floor and exclaimed, "Who's shooting at us?"  
  
Himura replied, "The ruler's lackeys, no doubt."  
  
Kaoru muttered, "What are we going to do?"  
  
"Leave," Himura answered, drawing his gun from the inside of his jacket. "Hopefully before they decide to come /inside/ to shoot us."  
  
"Us?" Sanosuke wondered as he crouched across the floor behind Kaoru and Himura. Kaoru was leading them toward the back door.  
  
"He probably realized I wasn't going to kill you," Himura answered simply. Meaning, now that the "ruler" had realized Himura wasn't going to do his job, his life didn't matter.  
  
They escaped through the back door, and Himura said, "Follow me."  
  
For one hysterical moment, Sanosuke felt like singing, 'Follow the leader, the leader, the leader, wherever he may go.' Whenever he thought about where Himura might lead them, though, the urge quickly died.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
A/N: Oh, my goodness. . .it's the end of the chapter. I'm so mean. . . I shouldn't do cliffies like that, really, but I need to sleep. . .and it seemed like a good place to stop. :) But really, don't get mad. :) heheh. . .  
  
Thanks to these people who reviewed:  
  
Curious Koneko: Thanks very much, and your name actually answered this question I had about this song, so thanks for that too! :) And I'm going to try to continue that trigun story, but I don't know how soon.  
  
Annabella5: Thanks! Hopefully, I will be able to include as many characters as possible. Hee. ^_^  
  
Thanks again everyone! Bye. B.L. 


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: Rurouni Kenshin and all its beautifully done characters do not belong to me. I just try to imitate them the best that I can.  
  
Chapter Four  
  
"Is there anywhere that you can go for awhile?" Mr. Himura questioned.  
  
They'd made it safely away from the house and found their way to Mr. Himura's car, which had been parked along a curve, a little ways down the block. Mr. Himura was driving, while Sanosuke sat shotgun, and Kaoru huddled in the backseat behind her brother. For some reason, Kaoru hadn't expected Mr. Himura to drive so /safely/. . .but he did. He was possibly just above granny-speed. Well, she had to admit that he had gotten them away from the neighborhood pretty quickly, but after that he /had/ started to slow down.  
  
At the moment, they were driving in no particular direction. Kaoru said, "We can go to my friend, Megumi's place."  
  
From the front seat, Sanosuke groaned. "Not Megumi," he protested. "When we were kids, she tried to make me fall out of a tree house just so she could fix up my arm when it broke."  
  
Kaoru remembered this incident, and it had happened almost exactly the way Sanosuke had described it. They had all been up in that tree house in Megumi Takani's backyard. Megumi had been fourteen or fifteen, Sanosuke had been ten, and Kaoru had been nine. They had all been playing house together, (Sano had been blackmailed into it, some way or another), when Megumi had gotten the smart idea to play doctor. Kaoru had protested that no one was hurt, so Megumi had convinced Sano that she was going to pretend that he fell out of the tree house and broke his arm. But when they were going to play out the 'accident', Megumi had really tried to push him out the tree house door, probably thinking that he wouldn't really get hurt. Sanosuke had escaped by sheer will power and a good sense of balance. After that, he'd avoided Megumi like that plague.  
  
Kaoru chuckled. "Like you said, that was when you were kids. . .you're both adults, now. Well, Megumi is. . ." Kaoru teased with a bit of a mischievous smile tugging at her lips. ". . .but anyway, she did that because she wanted to be a doctor when she grew up."  
  
"She's evil," Sanosuke said, seeming to miss Kaoru's teasing. "Evil and sneaky. . .she's a sneaky, evil fox-woman."  
  
"Oh, come on," Kaoru laughed. "I promise she won't try to break any of your bones, Sano."  
  
"So, where does this fox-doctor live?" Mr. Himura questioned.  
  
Kaoru had been so drawn into the little moment with her brother, that she was startled by Mr. Himura's voice. Kaoru gave herself a shake and told him Megumi's address. After that, all the conversation in the car amounted to her giving Mr. Himura directions.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Sanosuke greeted his archenemy with a cocky smile and brushed past her into the apartment. "Nice place," he said. "I brought you a present, Fox."  
  
Megumi's apartment was indeed a 'nice place'. There were tall, lusciously green potted plants in every corner, and sunlight streamed in from several windows, all of which had lacy, white curtains hanging from them. The floor was tiled, but somehow it still had an inviting feel to it. However, Sanosuke could see that when the floor reached the living room area, it merged into a nice fluffy, beige carpet.  
  
"Nice to see you, too, rooster-head," Megumi said with deadly pleasantness. "Where's my present?"  
  
Sanosuke turned to point at his sister and Himura. "Right there. He's our ex-killer turned body-guard." Sano grinned wickedly. "Do you like him?"  
  
Megumi looked a bit perplexed, as she appraised Himura. Then she smiled smugly at Sano and said, "He's adorable." She gave Kaoru a real smile and said, "Hi, raccoon-girl."  
  
"Hi, Megumi," Kaoru replied. The smile she returned was a bit wobbly.  
  
"So, what's your name?" Megumi asked Himura, boldly.  
  
Himura answered, "Kenshin Himura."  
  
"Well, Kenshin," Megumi said. "It's nice to meet you." To the group in general she said, "Why don't you come in and have some seats." She looked at Kaoru. "Especially you, Kaoru. You look like the cat dragged you around the neighborhood a few times."  
  
"Thanks," Kaoru said with a sarcastic smirk. They followed Megumi into her living room where they sat down on some comfy, brown sofas.  
  
Kaoru ended up sitting next to Sanosuke, and Megumi next to Himura. Sanosuke saw him taking in the place with those eerie eyes. What was he looking for? Escape routes? Marking off where all the windows were for the next time someone was shooting up the place?  
  
Megumi questioned, "So, what brings you all here?"  
  
Sanosuke answered with relish, "We're being hunted for by an underworld crime lord's posse."  
  
Megumi raised a brow. "Sounds interesting. But I'm sure it was all because of something /you/ did, Sanosuke, so I'd rather not hear all the boring details."  
  
"Someone didn't like our dad," Kaoru said softly. "And now they don't like us."  
  
A sympathetic look crossed Megumi's face, but quickly disappeared. "Well, I suppose you wanted to come hide out here?"  
  
Kaoru nodded. Megumi said, "Alright then. And if any of you get shot, I'll be able to take care of it." She grinned, and Sanosuke fell off of the couch.  
  
"What about him?" Megumi asked, pointing at Himura.  
  
Kaoru answered, "He was sent to kill Sano, but he didn't and now he's protecting us, to make a long story short."  
  
Megumi's deep-brown eyes went a bit wide. She glanced toward Himura quickly then to Sanosuke. "But /why/? I mean. . ." she looked toward Kaoru. "Oh, you poor thing, no wonder you look so stressed. . ."  
  
Sanosuke found himself annoyed for some reason. "What about me, Megumi? I'm the one who was nearly killed."  
  
"Rooster-head," Megumi answered in a patient tone, "Did you even stop to think how Kaoru would feel if you had died?"  
  
Sanosuke, feeling like an idiot, rubbed the back of his neck. "Oh man. . ." He looked beseechingly at Kaoru. "I'm real sorry, missy. . .I never thought. . ."  
  
Kaoru smiled feebly. "It's okay, Sano. Let's talk about something else. . ."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Kenshin watched the looks passing between the brother and sister. He felt a prickling of something, and realized it was guilt. He'd been a part of all this pain they were experiencing. Kenshin shook himself mentally. It didn't matter; from now on he would be protecting them, not causing them harm. He looked toward Megumi and appraised her. Megumi, at first, seemed a bit like all those beautiful, scheming women who used men for their own purposes. With her long, dark hair and deep, seductive brown eyes, she could've been just like them. But underneath that pretty makeup, there seemed to be more to Miss Megumi than there first appeared. More than once, she'd shown signs of deep compassion for her friends. However much she tried to veil it, she definitely cared.  
  
Speaking of 'caring', there was something that had been gnawing at Kenshin's curiosity.  
  
"I've been wondering, who this person is who has been paying for your college tuition, Miss Kaoru."  
  
Kaoru looked toward him quickly, and Kenshin couldn't escape the way her look reminded him of a frightened animal's. Was she truly afraid of him? Kenshin tried to ignore the way that thought made his gut wrench painfully.  
  
Kaoru said, "A friend of my father's, I think. . .but how did you know about that?"  
  
Kenshin almost winced. "The man who hired me had a file on you. . .I saw that there was an anonymous person paying for your tuition, and had previously paid for Sanosuke's. I looked into it, but I couldn't find your benefactor's name. Whoever he is, he must have some sort of influence to keep his name hidden so well."  
  
Sanosuke was glaring at him. "Why should that make any difference to /you/?" He spat out.  
  
Kenshin ignored him, but Kaoru said, "Sano, be nice." Sanosuke cast her a slightly annoyed expression, but was silent. Kaoru asked, "Mr. Himura, is there some reason you wanted to know about him?"  
  
Now that Kenshin thought of it, there really wasn't. At first, he had wanted to know, just in case this mysterious person had had enough power to seek some sort of reprisal for Sanosuke's death. Now. . .  
  
"Perhaps they can find you a safer place to hide than Ms. Megumi's apartment."  
  
Kaoru looked surprised, while Sanosuke scowled. Miss Megumi said, "That's actually a good idea."  
  
Kaoru looked toward her friend; she seemed to be thinking it over. After a moment, she seemed to make her decision. "I think I have his number. . ." She blushed. "I mean, I've memorized it." She glanced at Sanosuke. "Dad wanted me to, for some reason."  
  
Sanosuke warned, "I don't know if this is a good idea, missy."  
  
Kaoru frowned, but Megumi said, "Go ahead, you can use my phone, Kaoru. I'll go get it." She rose and left the room for a moment then returned, holding a cordless phone, which she handed to Kaoru.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Kaoru, with shaking fingers, nervously dialed the number that she'd memorized at the age of fourteen. She remembered her father telling her, "I would tell Sano, too, but I think he would be tempted to prank call him. And Aoshi Shinomori is not someone you want to prank call." Kaoru was able to crack a smile at the memory. At the same time, it scared her a little.  
  
The phone rang, and she waited, her heart beating like a drum. "Hello, this is Shinomori," a deep, male voice answered. It was rather pleasant in a hoarse sort of way. And it helped to put her a little more at ease.  
  
"H-hello," Kaoru said, "I'm Kaoru Sagara, Souzou Sagara's daughter. . .h-he told me to call you if I was ever in trouble."  
  
"Kaoru, yes, you're father and I knew each other. What kind of trouble are you in?" He asked, getting straight to the point.  
  
"Sanosuke and I are on someone's hit list. We're hiding out at my friend's house. But we thought that you might know some place safer that we can stay."  
  
"You're right, if you're on someone's hit list they'll find you eventually, but I have a place you can go. Where are you now?"  
  
Kaoru told him Megumi's address, and he said he would come right over to get her and her brother. She was surprised he hadn't asked more questions. She supposed it was because of his relationship with her dad. It struck her then how little she really knew about her father, and it made her feel the loss, all over again.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
After Kaoru had hung up the phone, Sanosuke noticed the melancholic expression on her face. It only took him a moment to figure it out; she missed their father. He reached out and touched her shoulder. She looked up at him with misty eyes and smiled.  
  
"I'm okay," she murmured softly.  
  
Sanosuke squeezed her shoulder before releasing it. "I miss him too," he said quietly.  
  
He realized that Himura was watching them intensely, and that Megumi was trying not to look at them. 'Oh, well,' he thought. 'A moment's a moment. . . no matter who's around to intrude.'  
  
"He's coming to get us right now," Kaoru said, effectively changing the subject.  
  
"Great," Megumi said, "I'll get my things; you still might need a doctor."  
  
Both Sanosuke /and/ Kaoru fell over, that time. "You can't come with us," Sanosuke protested.  
  
"Why not?" Megumi retorted. "Kenshin is going."  
  
"Who says?" Sanosuke bristled, glancing at Himura angrily.  
  
Himura said, "It would be best if I remained with you. You still might be in danger wherever you go."  
  
The thought of always being in danger, no matter where they ran, silenced Sanosuke. Would this ever end? Or would they be fugitives for the rest of their lives? Sanosuke tried to reassure himself that they wouldn't, but he couldn't silence his worries. The thought that plagued him the most was of something happening to Kaoru, or even him. What would Kaoru do if he died? It wasn't something he wanted to dwell on, but he knew he couldn't bear to leave Kaoru with that much pain; she'd already lost two parents. If it came down to it, he would find this guy himself and kill him. He wouldn't let them live in fear forever.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
A/N: Ai, I'm not too happy with this chapter, especially that last paragraph, but I hope you enjoy. ^_^0 And I'm going to try to have a little more fun with the next chapter. ---grins wickedly---  
  
Thanks to these people who reviewed:  
  
Southpaw: Thanks, I didn't think people would like that because it wasn't very original. And I hope I answered your question satisfactorily. :)  
  
Cryxxy-chan: Thank you. It's a real honor to be on your favorites list. :) and I tried to make this chapter a little longer. I'm not very good at it though.  
  
Selena Maxwell: Thanks! I'm planning to try to start the chapter after this right away, but if I get stuck, there's no telling.  
  
BelleDayNight: Heh, heh. Thank you! I like to make them brother and sister too, because they remind me so much of siblings.  
  
soujiro sweet: Thank you. :) I'm really bad at writing serious stuff, cause it sort of stresses me out, so I always end up putting light stuff in, despite myself. . .so I'm glad you like it.  
  
BlueEyedDemon90: thank you! I'll try to get the next chapter up as soon as I can.  
  
RoseRed5: Thank you, heh, I thought it was kind of stupid, so I'm glad you liked it. :)  
  
Well, that's it, I guess. I'm gonna go work on the next chp. now. But please don't be expecting it right away. I mean, I might have it right away, but then again, I might not. :)  
  
Bye everyone, Blueliath. 


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Ai, I'm really bad about this sort of thing, so please forgive me, and I'm telling you about it now:  
  
This: '. . .' stands for thoughts, it used to be this: /. . ./ but I'm changing it because I don't want you to confuse it with this: /. . ./ which also stands for italics.  
  
So, okay, now you know, and please don't get annoyed. ^_^ BlueLiath.  
  
Disclaimer: This story does not belong to me. . .oh wait! Yes it does! Heh. . .the show Rurouni Kenshin does not belong to me.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Chapter Five  
  
Aoshi Shinomori was younger than Kaoru had pictured him. He had dark hair, and deep-green eyes. All in all, he was pretty handsome, although old enough to be her father. In fact, he reminded her a lot of Souzou Sagara. But he was very much unlike the short, lithe Kenshin Himura, although he did have something of that same dangerousness about him. And the two guns that Kaoru was sure he was packing under his dark trench coat definitely reinforced that dangerous feel.  
  
He greeted her and Sanosuke, and she introduced him to Megumi. But when he saw Mr. Himura, his eyes narrowed and he asked, "What is this man doing here?"  
  
"I'm protecting them, like you should have been doing, Shinomori." Kaoru thought Mr. Himura's voice sounded a degree more chill than usual.  
  
Mr. Shinomori seemed to ignore the insult. "I've heard about you, 'Battousai the Manslayer.' Have you forsaken that title? Or are you merely playing some sort of game?"  
  
Mr. Himura explained, while everyone else held their breaths, "I was hired to kill Sanosuke, however, I've changed my mind since then. I intend to protect him and his sister to the best of my ability."  
  
Mr. Shinomori tilted his head, "The best of your ability. . .I've heard that you have an almost god-like speed, and an uncanny way of anticipating your opponents attacks, is that true?"  
  
Mr. Himura replied, "It might be. But rumors are usually exaggerated."  
  
"Yes," Mr. Shinomori agreed, "but there's always a grain of truth in them."  
  
Kaoru felt as if she was going to die from suffocation any second, the air was so thick with tension. She could almost see the lightening flickering between the two men. Couldn't Mr. Shinomori see how very dangerous Mr. Himura was? Why was he bating him like that?  
  
Mr. Himura only taunted, "You can always see for yourself." He took a step toward Mr. Shinomori, and Kaoru thought she would pass out from fear.  
  
"Maybe later, Battousai," Mr. Shinomori said, "For now I need to get these two out of here." He looked toward Kaoru and Sanosuke, and Kaoru couldn't hold back her sigh of relief.  
  
"I'm coming, too," Megumi interjected, smoothly.  
  
Mr. Shinomori only spared her a momentary glance, "Very well. And you, Battousai?" He looked toward Mr. Himura, again.  
  
Mr. Himura said, "Yes, there's no telling /who/ I'll have to protect them from."  
  
Mr. Shinomori didn't even seem to have heard the comment. He motioned with his hand. "Come then, we're leaving right now."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
He led them to a van, and they drove for the longest time. Kaoru, sitting in the backseat with Megumi, fell asleep after a while. When she woke up, she had to wipe the drool from her cheek. She glanced around and saw that Megumi had fallen asleep too, with her head leaned against the window. Sanosuke had also fallen asleep on the seats in front of them. 'Seat hog,' she thought fondly, because he'd curled up on the seat like a spiky-haired animal. Kaoru looked toward the front, where Mr. Shinomori drove, and Mr. Himura sat across from him. They didn't /look/ like they were about to kill each other, but then again, they weren't exactly chattering away like old buddies, either.  
  
It was only a little while later that Mr. Shinomori pulled into a driveway of a big two-story house. He called back to them as he parked the car, "We're here. Wake up everyone."  
  
Kaoru nudged Megumi, and the dark-haired doctor roused immediately. Sanosuke was already sitting up. He yawned profusely and stretched his arms till his hands were touching the ceiling of the van. Kaoru rolled her eyes when he turned to her and asked, "Are we here?"  
  
"Yes, rooster-brain. Does it look like the car is still moving?" Even then, Mr. Shinomori and Mr. Himura had already left the van.  
  
Sanosuke just smiled at her with twinkling, sleepy brown eyes. Kaoru gave in and grinned back. "Come on, Sano, before we get locked in." Kaoru jumped out of the van after her brother, and Megumi followed, yawning and running her fingers through her thick hair to smooth it out; she carried a small duffle bag with her.  
  
They followed Mr. Shinomori into the house, and Kaoru asked, "Is this where we'll be staying?"  
  
Mr. Shinomori glanced back at her and nodded. "Yes, I should tell you beforehand, that there are other people already here."  
  
"Other people?" Sano asked, blankly. "What other people?"  
  
Megumi shared a tolerant look with Kaoru. "There's Okina and Misao," Mr. Shinomori informed them.  
  
"Who are they?" Mr. Himura questioned, coldly.  
  
Mr. Shinomori said, "Nenji "Okina" Kashiwazaki was, actually, my guardian. . .and Souzou's."  
  
Kaoru blinked. She'd known that her father had been an orphan, she just hadn't known who had taken care of him. . .yet another thing she didn't know about her father.  
  
Sano exclaimed, "So you're like our uncle, and this guy is like our grandfather?"  
  
"Stupid rooster-head," Megumi said, "You're not related by /blood/, you idiot."  
  
"Actually," Mr. Shinomori said, "I kind of think of it that way, myself."  
  
Kaoru's breath felt as if it had been taken away, for a moment. Tears stung the back of her eyes. . .at first she was full of a feeling of warmth and security, then it came to her that Mr. Shinomori had known about this all along, and he had never bothered to meet them. "I don't see how it makes much of a difference," she said, with some bitterness coloring her tone.  
  
Mr. Shinomori looked toward her. "I know I didn't make any move to meet you or Sanosuke, earlier. But after all, like Ms. Takani pointed out, I'm not related to you by blood."  
  
Kaoru studied Mr. Shinomori for a moment, and felt the momentary bitterness leave her, "It's alright. . ." she murmured, and glanced away from him, shyly. It seemed that he was trying to apologize.  
  
They reached the living room area, and Kaoru could hear the sound of a television. There was a burst of loud, feminine laughter, and then one of a man's deeper laughter. It was raucous and annoying, and yet Kaoru found it somehow welcoming.  
  
They went around to the other side of the couch where they could see a young woman with dark-green eyes and a long, black braid down her back. She was sitting next to an old and white-haired, yet very healthy looking man.  
  
Mr. Shinomori introduced them all by name to Misao and Okina. Misao greeted them with a wide, bright smile. "So you're all fugitives like me?" She asked.  
  
"Don't exaggerate, Misao," Okina said sternly, but a moment later he was grinning just as foolishly as she. "So, you're all hiding out here?"  
  
Misao fell over, but Mr. Shinomori answered, "They are staying here until I can do something about this person who's trying to kill them."  
  
"Ooh!" Misao exclaimed, "Someone's trying to kill you?"  
  
"Ai," Okina said to Misao, "You're hiding out here because you're in danger, too."  
  
"Correction," Misao said. "My father is in danger. I'm just here so I don't get stuck in the crossfire."  
  
Okina waved his hand dismissingly, and said to the group, "She has a tendency toward over-exuberance and exaggeration."  
  
Kaoru laughed nervously as Megumi said, "Then she should get along great with rooster-head here."  
  
Sanosuke protested, "I'm not gonna be friends with the weasel-girl!"  
  
"Hey!" Misao protested. "I'm not a weasel!"  
  
"Sano," Kaoru said, "That was pretty rude."  
  
Sanosuke looked irritated, but mumbled, "Sorry. . ."  
  
Kaoru asked, tentatively, "So why are your father and you in danger, Misao?"  
  
Misao hopped to her feet and began, "Well, you see, my dad is a cop, like your dad was---Mr. Aoshi told us all about that---and he was investigating this mob and he got "noticed" by them, if you know what I mean, and now they are after him. But he says he can't stop investigating 'cause he knows he's really close. So I'm here because he doesn't want me to get hurt." She took a deep breath, and just when everyone thought that she had finished speaking she added, "Mr. Aoshi is a private detective, did you know that?"  
  
Kaoru glanced toward Mr. Shinomori and saw him nod his head slightly. She heard Mr. Himura say, "So that's how you've managed to keep your name clear of any records."  
  
Mr. Shinomori said in reply, "That and I have made plenty friends through my work."  
  
Misao whispered to Kaoru, "He's so cool. Aren't you glad he's kind of your uncle?"  
  
Kaoru was beginning to get the feeling that Misao had a crush on Mr. Shinomori. She smiled at her pleasantly and then tried to back away and hide behind Sano. She would do anything to escape the intense brightness that was Misao. She just wasn't up for that much emotion, at the moment.  
  
"Misao," Mr. Shinomori said, perhaps not noticing Kaoru's hasty escape. "Why don't you show Kaoru where she will be sleeping?"  
  
Misao squealed with delight. "Come on, Kaoru," she said, leaping forward and grasping Kaoru's arm. "You'll be sleeping in my room!" She began to lead Kaoru away.  
  
Kaoru glanced back toward her brother with pleading eyes. Sanosuke gave her an encouraging, yet sympathetic smile as she was "dragged" from the room.  
  
Misao's room was pretty much a mess. There were clothes thrown haphazardly all over the floor. The bed covers were untidy, and the pillows were on the floor. There was a radio, combination CD player on some drawers and other articles such as a hairbrush, some CD's and a computer on a desk in the corner of her room. The desk was covered with many other things, papers, CD's, speakers, a picture of a woman. . .  
  
"Who's that?" Kaoru questioned, gesturing toward the framed picture.  
  
"My mom," Misao answered. There was a wistful expression growing in her eyes. "She's dead, now."  
  
"Oh. . ." Kaoru said. "I'm really sorry. . .my mom and dad are gone, too."  
  
"Oh," Misao said. She smiled wanly and questioned, "How did they die?"  
  
"Well. . ." Kaoru felt a lump growing in her throat. "My mom died a long time ago when I was a little kid. She had cancer and it eventually beat her. . .My dad was shot about two years ago."  
  
Misao looked extremely unhappy, now. "I shouldn't have asked. I'm such a fat-head."  
  
"It's okay," Kaoru murmured, smiling a bit sadly. "How did your mom die?"  
  
Misao's gaze drifted back to the picture on the desk, and she fiddled with the edge of the frame. "A car accident. . .she was coming home from work, a truck driver fell asleep. . .I was like ten. . ."  
  
"Oh," Kaoru exclaimed. "I'm sorry," she repeated.  
  
"It's okay," Misao said. She left off handling the picture and looked toward Kaoru with a watery grin. "What kind of music do you like?" She questioned, enthusiastically.  
  
Kaoru, glad to get away from such a dismal subject, began expounding on all the forms of music that she listened to. She and Misao spent a few hours going through Misao's formidable stack of CD's. After a while, Megumi came to join them, and Misao ran off to find an extra mattress to lay on the floor. They chatted together, for a while, about stupid stuff. Girl stuff, like what kind of guys, mostly actors, that they liked, and what brand of shampoo worked best in their hair. . .then they finally passed out wherever there was enough room. Megumi slept on the floor, and Kaoru and Misao shared the bed.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Sanosuke was having trouble with his sleeping situation. He'd objected strongly to sharing a room with Megumi, and for his trouble, he'd ended up with Himura. Which, to say the least, was a bit uncomfortable. Too bad he hadn't thought of sharing a room with the old man. Even though Okina was a bit on the loud and obnoxious side, at least he wasn't a confirmed killer.  
  
Sanosuke stared down at the mattress he'd just put on the floor and then up at the bed in the corner of the room. He glanced over at Himura with no little trepidation. "So. . .uhm, which bed do you want?" He asked nervously.  
  
Himura looked at him with a strange expression, then said, "I'm smaller, I'll take the mattress."  
  
"Ah, okay. . ." 'Phew,' Sano thought, 'That's settled.' He almost reached up to wipe away the sweat from his forehead.  
  
After they were all settled, Sano reached for the lamp beside the bed. . . 'Oh, great. . .now I have to turn out the light. I thought I was past being scared of the dark,' he thought with some irony. 'But now that I know /he's/ in the dark, too, I feel like a little kid again.' Sanosuke took a deep breath and flipped the switch. He lay back on the pillow and pulled the covers up higher, as if they could keep him from being murdered. He thought he wouldn't fall asleep right away, but perhaps the events of the day had worn him out more than he realized. The last thought he had before drifting off was, 'I wonder if Himura even needs to sleep. . .?'  
  
He was awakened by a noise after what seemed like only a little while later. Sanosuke sat up quickly and peered around into the moonlit darkness. 'What was /that/?' he wondered. The noise came again; it sounded like a cross between a low moan, and a whimper. Sano, thoroughly freaked out, switched on the lamp and squinted around into the sudden brightness. The sound emerged from the floor, where the redheaded assassin lay huddled in a blanket-tangled, little ball. Himura was twitching slightly, and his eyes flickered rapidly beneath their lids.  
  
'He's having a nightmare?' Sanosuke wondered, flabbergasted by this obvious display of emotion. 'I guess that answers my question about him sleeping.' A wry smile turned up the corner of his lips, but then he frowned. 'Should I wake him up?' He wondered, then thought, 'No way, forget it!' But as Sanosuke looked down on the sleeping man, he couldn't help but feel some sort of sympathy. Still. . .he didn't want to wake Himura up only to get his butt kicked by the angry "Battousai." Sanosuke was about to switch the light off and try his best to forget the incident and return to sleep when he saw the glistening of tears streaming down Himura's pale, cross-shape scarred cheek.  
  
"Crap," Sanosuke whispered under his breath. There was no way he could ignore /that/ no matter /who/ Kenshin Himura was.  
  
Sano dropped out of the bed and knelt next to Himura. Nervously he called in a low, shaky voice, "Himura, hey, wake up. . ." He repeated it a bit louder, hoping that he would wake up and Sanosuke wouldn't have to touch him, but Himura wouldn't rouse. 'Oh, man, I can't believe I'm about to do this,' Sano thought, forebodingly. He gripped Himura's shoulder as lightly as possible and called his name.  
  
Himura's eyes flew open, and Sanosuke jumped back he was so startled by that amber glare. He thought for a second that Himura was going to attack him, but he only sat up slowly and blinked as if he wasn't quite awake yet.  
  
Himura touched his face lightly, and began wiping away the wetness of his tears. He looked almost surprised by them, Sanosuke realized as his heart began to slow down and his fear to ease.  
  
Sanosuke questioned, "A-are you alright?" Himura looked at him, and for a second Sanosuke saw something more than coldness in his eyes; this time he was sure of it.  
  
"Yes. . .did you awaken me?" Himura questioned.  
  
"Yeah, I, uhm. . .yeah," Sano said. Hastily he added, "I'm gonna go back to sleep now, okay?" He began to rise, but was stopped by Himura's hand on his arm.  
  
"Did I. . .say anything?" Himura asked him.  
  
"Err, no, you were just. . .no," Sanosuke finished, more than a little embarrassed to admit that he'd witnessed Himura crying.  
  
"Oh," Himura said, and looked down at his legs, which were still tangled in the blanket. "Thank you. . .for waking me up. . ." he said quietly.  
  
Sanosuke blinked. "Uh, you're welcome."  
  
Himura released his arm, and Sanosuke got to his feet and lay back down. He switched off the light, thoughts filling his mind. He was completely thrown and confused, but he wasn't an idiot. It was obvious to see that there was more to Kenshin Himura than he'd thought. He was certainly a killer, but during their fight, he'd shown honor of a sort by letting Sano live. And although Himura showed hardly any sort of emotion, just now, Sano had heard and seen him crying. 'Oh man, what an enigma,' Sano thought. He was beginning to see Kenshin Himura as a human being instead of a monster, and more than that, he was no longer afraid of him. Well, not /so/ much afraid of him. And for some reason, it was really irritating the crap out of him.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
A/N: I sure hope that part between Sano and Kenshin wasn't too soon. . .or too extreme. Oh, well, it was really fun, so who gives a care? You? Oops. . .heheh, I'm sorry. . .(blushes bright red and slinks off to her room). Anyway, I hope you liked this chapter, there's a lot of iffy stuff in it, but I hope it doesn't bother you as much as it does me. ^_^ BlueLiath.  
  
Thanks for the people who reviewed,  
  
BelleDayNight: Heheh, thank you, I hope you enjoyed this chapter too.  
  
Southpaw: Thanks. Hmmm. I didn't really think about it straight out like that but yep, you hit the nail on the head. More people will come. :)  
  
Thanks again everybody! BlueLiath. 


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: Hello. . .I don't own Rurouni Kenshin. (Makes face. . .) Oh, well.  
  
A/N: This chapter is pretty much unimportant, so I'm putting it up right away. Well it does have a sort of important part. . .anyway, I hope you enjoy! B.L.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"His Only Weakness" Chapter Six  
  
Kaoru awakened with someone else's foot in her mouth, and the distinct feeling that she was forgetting to do something. In the time that it took her to remember everything that happened the day before and to realize that it was Misao's foot that was shoved in her face, she also recalled that it was a class day and she was unintentionally skipping school.  
  
"Oh shoot!" Kaoru exclaimed, and tumbled out of the bed and landed on top of the mattress that Megumi was sleeping on. Unfortunately, she also landed on Megumi.  
  
"Ouch!" Megumi protested and tried to escape out from under Kaoru's knees, which were placed indelicately on her stomach. "Oww! Wha's goin' on?" Megumi questioned, sounding as if she hadn't quite awakened yet. "Kaoru? What are you doing? Get off!"  
  
"Oh, Megumi. . .I'm sorry!" Kaoru exclaimed and quickly removed herself from the doctor's person. Once she had risen, she shot from the room, completely forgetting about Megumi in her worry over missing school.  
  
It took her a few seconds to realize that Misao must have led her upstairs the previous day. Once she remembered, she flew down to the second floor and found herself smacking into something tall, and solid. Kaoru felt herself falling backwards, but soon she was caught by someone's hands and straightened out until she regained her own balance.  
  
"Kaoru?" Aoshi Shinomori's deep, rough voice questioned. "Are you alright?"  
  
Kaoru looked up toward him and gasped out, "Oh, Mr. Shinomori, I remembered that I'm missing class, and so is Sano. . .I need to call our teacher---"  
  
"It's already been taken care of, Kaoru," Mr. Shinomori said.  
  
"I'm going to get in so much trou---what?" It finally registered what he had said.  
  
"I've already called your teachers," Mr. Shinomori explained.  
  
"Oh," Kaoru said, and stood there in stunned silence for a moment. Then she sighed with relief and said, "Thank you so much, I can't believe I forgot all about it yesterday."  
  
"You were under a great deal of stress, I'm sure," Mr. Shinomori said. His voice had a reassuring quality to it, and Kaoru found herself smiling up at him.  
  
"Would you like some breakfast?" Mr. Shinomori questioned.  
  
"Uhm, yes please," Kaoru said, and Mr. Shinomori led her to the dining room, where Okina was already sitting at the long, rectangular wooden table reading a newspaper and eating French toast.  
  
Once she was sitting down and had helped herself to some French toast, Mr. Shinomori asked her, "Why don't you tell me about everything that happened yesterday?"  
  
Kaoru told him about Kenshin Himura arriving at her house and their escape. Then she finished with their short visit to Megumi's apartment. Mr. Shinomori nodded the whole time, and when she'd finished speaking, he said, "Thank you, Kaoru. I need to know everything that I possibly can in order to help you and Sanosuke."  
  
"Oh, uhm, you're welcome." Kaoru asked, "You're a detective, right? Will you be able to find the guy who wants to kill us quickly?"  
  
Mr. Shinomori said, "It really depends, Kaoru. However, I don't want you to think that if I actually find him, that it will solve your problem."  
  
"But. . ." Kaoru began.  
  
"It's very hard to convict such a man," Mr. Shinomori explained, gently. "In fact, Misao's father has that very problem at the moment. He knows who the people are, but he has to find the evidence before he can do anything about it. And until then, neither he nor Misao will be safe."  
  
Kaoru stared down at her plate. She was beginning to realize the implications; her life was changing drastically, and it was completely out of her hands. She felt as helpless as she had when her mother and father had died.  
  
"Kaoru?" Mr. Shinomori asked.  
  
Kaoru looked up into his concerned green eyes and said, "I'm okay. Thank you, Mr. Shinomori. I know you'll do your best to help me and Sano."  
  
Mr. Shinomori nodded slightly, and Kaoru looked down at her plate again. 'What's going to happen to me? What's going to happen to Sano?' She wondered, silently.  
  
Okina spoke up, "Where's that rug rat-girl, Miss Kaoru?" He questioned.  
  
"Who?" Kaoru asked blankly, looking up at the old man's smiling face.  
  
"Misao. Is she still asleep? She said she was going to do some chores today, so I was wondering if you would mind waking her up for me." Okina requested.  
  
"Oh, no, not at all," Kaoru said. She put on a smile and rose to her feet. "Thank you for breakfast," she said and hurried away. Upstairs she decided that maybe she should wake up Sanosuke, too, to tell him about Mr. Shinomori taking care of their school stuff, before he woke up and had a freak-out moment like she had.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Sanosuke came awake to the sound of his sister's voice calling his name. He opened his eyes and asked her to go away. Kaoru smacked him on the head, saying, "Get up, before I find a stick and beat you with it."  
  
Sanosuke tried to shield his head, and mumbled unhappily, "I'm awake, I'm awake!"  
  
"Good, I just wanted you to know not to worry about classes. Mr. Shinomori already called our teachers."  
  
Sanosuke let the strange information absorb into his brain. "What?"  
  
"Never mind, there is breakfast downstairs if you want some, I'm gonna go now."  
  
After awhile, Sanosuke came out of his stupor, and sat up. He found himself unconsciously looking over to where Himura was at on the floor. Himura was sitting up and watching him also, and Sanosuke yelped despite himself, and stuttered, "Oh, err, sorry. . ."  
  
Himura said, "You don't have to walk on eggshells around me. I told you I wouldn't hurt you, and I intend to keep my promise."  
  
Sanosuke shook his head, "Yeah. . .I guess you're right. . .sorry." He looked away, uncomfortably.  
  
Himura reached out and began putting his sneakers on, then he got up and took the black jacket from where he'd draped it over the bed frame. He slipped it on, and looked up at Sanosuke who was once again caught staring at him.  
  
Sanosuke thought, 'Dang, not again. He's going to start thinking I'm a perv or something. Wait a second, why do I care?' Nevertheless, he blushed, looked away and began rubbing the back of his neck. He didn't know why he kept staring at Himura, except that last night's incident had thrown him completely, and now he found himself undeniably curious.  
  
"Sano," Came Himura's voice, startling Sanosuke and drawing his eyes to the strange man. "Why don't you just ask me?" For the first time, Sanosuke could detect the traces of a smile on the assassin's lips. He didn't try to pretend not to know what Himura was talking about.  
  
"Uhm. . .no," Sano replied. "I'd rather not. I mean, your dreams are private and all. . ."  
  
Himura shrugged. "It does not matter. I don't remember them anyway."  
  
This made Sanosuke's curiosity flare even higher. "Why not?" He demanded.  
  
"Perhaps because they are memories," Himura answered, cryptically.  
  
"What's that supposed to mean?" Sanosuke questioned, finding himself no longer embarrassed.  
  
"I lost my memory of my early childhood. . .I believe I must dream about it sometimes, but I never remember anything about the dreams."  
  
'This is crazy,' Sano thought. "But. . .how did you lose your memory?"  
  
"If I remembered, I would tell you," Himura said, with the flicker of a smile.  
  
Sanosuke found himself grinning. "I can be really thick-headed sometimes. . ."  
  
Himura only raised a brow, but Sanosuke decided that it was a friendly sign and chuckled. After that, he got up and put his shoes on, and amazingly, Himura waited for him until he was ready, then they went downstairs together.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Kaoru stepped over Megumi, who must have fallen back to sleep again despite being crushed by Kaoru earlier. She leaned over and shook Misao's shoulder. "Misao, Okina wants you to wake up."  
  
Misao mumbled something about, "I don' wan' breakfas'. . ." and Kaoru nudged her more roughly.  
  
"Wake /up/, Misao," she called a bit louder. Misao began to snore. 'Oh great,' Kaoru thought. Then she grinned. Perhaps she would have to treat Misao as a sister. . . Kaoru repressed her growing smirk, and lifted her hand. . .  
  
"Aagh!" Kaoru was thrown to the floor, landing on top of Megumi all over again.  
  
"Kaoru!" Megumi screamed. "What /is/ going on?"  
  
Misao was standing on the bed, with fists raised looking around the room with wide, glazed, green eyes. "Wha'? What happened?" She questioned.  
  
Kaoru moaned from her position on top of Megumi's legs. "You nearly killed me, that's what happened," she whimpered.  
  
Misao looked down at her and her eyes seemed to clear up. She began to giggle. "You tried to thwack me on the head, didn't you?" she laughed.  
  
"Yes," Kaoru replied, quite regretfully.  
  
Megumi asked dazedly, "What happened?"  
  
"She flipped me," Kaoru said, not even quite sure if that was actually possible. The angle had been all wrong, hadn't it?  
  
Misao giggled again, and climbed down from the bed. "I'm really sorry," she said, "Are you alright?"  
  
Kaoru nodded, still trying to recover. "I didn't really flip you, you know?" Misao continued. "I think I grabbed your leg and pulled it out from under you, that's all. If you had been expecting it, it probably wouldn't have worked." She giggled again and sat down between Kaoru and Megumi. "You see, my dad used to have this bad habit of knocking me on the head to wake me up. I'm really hard to wake up, I guess. Anyway, he made the mistake of teaching me some self-defense moves, and unfortunately for him I learned them so well that it still works when I'm asleep."  
  
"Amazing," Megumi breathed. She'd awakened completely by then and had been listening avidly to Misao's monologue. "I wonder if they have this somewhere in a medical journal?" She said half to herself.  
  
Kaoru blinked at them both with watery eyes and murmured, "That really hurt."  
  
Misao patted her back and said, "I really /am/ sorry."  
  
Kaoru answered in a breathless voice, "It's okay. . .I shouldn't have tried to knock you over the head, I guess." She took a deep, shaky breath. "Oh, by the way, Okina wanted you downstairs. He said that you had promised to clean, or something like that. That's why I was trying to wake you up."  
  
"Oh," Misao said. "Shoot, I forgot about that." She sighed. "Oh, well you too, I guess we won't be doing anything fun today. I have to clean the whole house."  
  
"What?" Kaoru exclaimed.  
  
Misao looked sheepish. "I lost at go-fish to Okina, the other day."  
  
Megumi fell over with a sweat drop, and Kaoru followed. "Go fish?" Megumi questioned when she'd recovered.  
  
"Oh, heheh," Misao said. "We play for different stuff. It's how we decide who does the chores and stuff. . .don't look at me like that, it was Grandpa's idea!" Misao exclaimed.  
  
'She calls him "Grandpa"?' Kaoru wondered. 'And Mr. Shinomori, "Mr. Aoshi". Boy, she's a case. . .' But then again, Kaoru realized, she had been here with the two men for how long?  
  
"Hey, Misao," Kaoru asked, "How long have you been staying here?"  
  
Misao blinked widely. "Oh. . .uhm. . .well since like. . .wow! I guess it's been almost a year now!"  
  
Kaoru once again felt that sinking feeling of helplessness. How long exactly would she and Sanosuke be staying, she wondered. It could possibly be a year like with Misao, or longer. That wasn't that long, really, was it? But it seemed like forever, from where she was standing. . .  
  
~~~~~~~~~~  
  
A/N: I'm so-o-rry! I had to end it there. It was getting so long it frightened me! Well, that and I just didn't want to write anymore in this chapter. ^_~ I don't have anymore written for now, but I hope to have another chapter soon. Blueliath. 


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: Ai, you're all in for some shockers in this chapter. I thought it over, and I thought it over again, and I still wanted to do it, so I just did. Please everyone just forgive me and enjoy the story. ^_^  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own Rurouni Kenshin, and I'm getting tired of reminding you. ::Sigh:: Such a burden. . .  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"His Only Weakness" Chapter Seven  
  
They were downstairs in the living room. Megumi and Sanosuke were playing a card game and were sitting on the floor opposite each other at the coffee table. A little while earlier, Misao, Megumi, Sanosuke, and Mr. Himura had all finished eating breakfast. They had all congregated in the living room, and Misao had pulled out some card games. Sanosuke had snatched them away, and Megumi had protested, and thus began a "card-feud" between the two. Kaoru and Mr. Himura sat on the couch, and Misao sat between them, possibly oblivious to exactly who Kenshin Himura was. Misao had flipped on the television, and they were amusing themselves by alternately watching it and the "battle" between Megumi and Sano.  
  
"I'll help you out with your chores," Kaoru offered Misao.  
  
"Wow, thanks! That would be great! I was really /not/ looking forward to today," Misao said, relief in her enthusiastic voice.  
  
"I will help too, if you don't mind," Mr. Himura said, and Kaoru resisted the urge to gasp. Both her and the whole room gaped at him for a second and then quickly looked away.  
  
Mr. Himura frowned and protested in the strongest display of emotion that Kaoru had witnessed so far, "I /do/ know how to clean."  
  
"Err. . .nobody said you didn't," Sanosuke was brave enough to reply from the floor. "It's just that none of us really pictured you doing it."  
  
Mr. Himura was silent, and then Misao said, "It's alright with me! The more the merrier and the less work, too." Everyone, except Mr. Himura, sweat dropped, but Misao flung herself to her feet and exclaimed, "Well, come on you two! We've got lots of work to do!"  
  
Kaoru found herself exchanging a look with Mr. Himura. She felt herself blushing, for some reason, and quickly looked away and followed Misao. "You behave, Sano," she called after her brother as the three of them left the room.  
  
"You're the one who needs to behave!" Sanosuke called back, cheekily.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
They started with the bathrooms, the one upstairs and the one downstairs. Kaoru and Misao got the one downstairs and Mr. Himura took the one upstairs. Kaoru was amused by the way Misao kept going upstairs to see if Mr. Himura was doing his job right.  
  
"For a man, he really knows how to clean," she commented on one of her return trips.  
  
Kaoru only laughed, but found herself wondering what kind of life Mr. Himura had led to become a notorious assassin and a cleaning "lady" all in one.  
  
Next, they went on to the mopping, the dusting and the vacuuming. Mr. Himura got the vacuuming, and Kaoru and Misao got to mop the kitchen and the dining room floors. After that they dusted every bedroom, and tidied up when needed.  
  
Somewhere in the middle of the day, Megumi offered to make lunch and they all sat down to rest and eat for a while. Okina was still at the house, but Mr. Shinomori had gone off to work earlier that day.  
  
During lunch, Kaoru asked Sanosuke, "What were you doing all this time?"  
  
Sano shrugged. "Trying to beat Megumi."  
  
Kaoru sweat dropped, and said quietly, "I noticed the way you spoke to Mr. Himura earlier. Is there some reason you aren't as freaked out about him anymore?"  
  
Sanosuke paused in his eating and glanced quickly in Mr. Himura's direction. Mr. Himura appeared to be eating and not paying any attention to them. "Let's just say that I've come to realize that he's more human than he appears," Sanosuke said under his breath.  
  
"Sano. . ." Kaoru said, somewhat exasperated, but he wouldn't supply any more information than that one mysterious answer.  
  
Later on, the three went back to their cleaning, and Sano and Megumi went back to their "card-wars." Okina went who knew where. He was probably off reading a newspaper or something, Kaoru supposed, or perhaps practicing his martial art. Misao had mentioned that he was some kind of master in one of their "discussions." (Actually, Misao did most of the talking.)  
  
Kaoru was left alone in the kitchen, washing the windows while Misao went to go find more cleaning rags because the ones they'd been using were already filthy. Kaoru sighed and stretched. Her back was killing her. She hadn't cleaned this much in a long time. She decided to take a break until Misao returned. She began to sit down on one of the dining room chairs. It was then that she noticed the black leather jacket hanging from the back of the chair she had scooted out.  
  
Kaoru realized who the jacket belonged to immediately. Every instinct told her to leave it be and choose another chair, but almost as if her hands moved on their own, she picked up the jacket and began to run her fingers over the cool, smooth leather, absently. She felt an awkward weight in the jacket and, without thinking about it, reached inside of it and fumbled around. Her fingers touched cold metal and she pulled out the object that they closed around.  
  
Kaoru gasped at what she'd pulled forth from the jacket's recesses. "Miss Kaoru," a silken voice came from the entrance to the room. "You shouldn't play with guns, that you shouldn't." Kaoru started and tensed, looking up to find Mr. Himura staring at her from across the room. His golden eyes almost seemed to glow.  
  
Kaoru let out a frightened, little whimper and tried to apologize. All that came out was a high-pitched croak. Mr. Himura crossed over to her and took the gun from her fingers. He pulled the jacket away from her also, and, as he did, his fingers brushed against hers. Kaoru shivered at the intense warmth that she felt at the point of contact.  
  
"I took off my jacket because I was getting hot with all the work. I didn't think anyone would touch it," Mr. Himura said.  
  
"I-I. . ." Kaoru stuttered, as she gazed into his intense eyes, but then a strange fury seized her. "I hate guns. I don't understand why anyone would ever want to use one." She was surprised by her own vehemence.  
  
Mr. Himura blinked, "Without this gun I probably wouldn't be alive anymore."  
  
"Without that /gun/ you might be living a lot better life," Kaoru snapped.  
  
Mr. Himura, unfazed, returned in his calm tone, "How would I be able to protect you without it?"  
  
"Who says that I want to be protected?" Kaoru spat out at him.  
  
"You sound like Sanosuke," Mr. Himura said with a slightly raised brow.  
  
Kaoru ignored the comment. She was so angry that it hardly mattered to her. "What makes you think that I would want you to kill someone else just so that I could live?" Kaoru questioned.  
  
Mr. Himura was silent. "I'm not going to let you die, Miss Kaoru, whether you like it or not." Kaoru was beginning to think he had a stubborn streak.  
  
"I'd rather die than let someone else get killed," Kaoru rejoined. Her voice was calm; her mind was completely clear. She realized that she meant exactly what she'd just said, and it surprised her.  
  
Mr. Himura looked at her thoughtfully for the longest time. "Don't be a martyr, Miss Kaoru. You're a fool if you think that any one of those men that comes after you and Sanosuke would be as compassionate."  
  
'Did he just insult and complement me all in one sentence?' Kaoru wondered. "Why did you become an assassin, Mr. Himura?" Kaoru was once again astounded by her boldness.  
  
"That's not really any of your business," he replied. "But then, neither was what I had in my jacket." Kaoru blushed, but he didn't seem to be trying to humble her. "So, I'll go ahead and tell you, since you've already crossed that line once." Kaoru almost held her breath as Mr. Himura began, "I---"  
  
"I found some more rags!" A familiar, and somewhat annoying, voice interrupted. Kaoru looked to see Misao bounding joyfully into the dining room with her hands full of old rags piled up to her chin.  
  
Mr. Himura stepped away from Kaoru and slipped into his jacket. Kaoru hadn't noticed when, but he'd put his gun back inside of it.  
  
Misao stopped in front of them and glanced suspiciously back and forth between Kaoru and Mr. Himura. "Here," she said, after a second, and shoved some of the rags into Mr. Himura's hands. "Go clean somewhere else."  
  
Again, Kaoru found herself exchanging a look with him. He blinked and looked away, walking off and leaving Kaoru alone with Misao.  
  
"Kaoru," Misao said warningly. "What were you two talking about?"  
  
Kaoru answered, hastily, "Nothing. . ."  
  
"Right," Misao said, eyeing Kaoru with a dubious expression. "You should be careful, Kaoru. It doesn't really seem like it, but Mr. Himura's a dangerous guy. I asked Mr. Aoshi about him last night, and he said that Mr. Himura is like this really infamous assassin. . .you wouldn't believe it if I told you how many people he's supposed to have killed."  
  
Kaoru sweat-dropped. It sure took Misao a little while to catch up, didn't it?  
  
"Really, Kaoru, what did he say?" Misao questioned, once more.  
  
"Nothing, I just found his jacket and gave it back to him, that's all," Kaoru said.  
  
Misao looked as if she didn't quite believe her, but she seemed to let it slide. "Well, let's get back to work then!"  
  
Kaoru nodded, but couldn't help the glance she sent toward the empty doorway. Mr. Himura was a real enigma, practically a walking complexity with red hair to boot. 'Crap!' Kaoru thought. 'Am I getting a crush on him?' No. It couldn't be. That was completely outrageous. She didn't even know why that thought had popped into her head, in the first place. But then why had she shivered when his hand had brushed against hers?  
  
'Woh, Kaoru. Don't go there,' she commanded herself. 'Even if you do like him, it's just some sort of bad-boy phase type thing. Get over it. Right now.'  
  
Kaoru picked up a rag and began to work on another window. Despite her stern warnings to herself, she found that she was looking back toward the door again as if she expected to see a golden-eyed, red-headed figure standing there gazing back at her.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Kenshin couldn't quite believe that he'd been about to tell Kaoru Sagara something so important about himself. But he had been. Maybe it was those blue eyes of hers, so dark and unfathomable. They caught his eye and wouldn't release him. . .they made him want to tell her everything, even if it meant allowing her to know something that she might use against him. It didn't matter; one look in Kaoru's blue eyes and he wanted to do anything to just keep staring into them.  
  
'What am I thinking?' he wondered. 'I shouldn't be attracted to her, she's only eighteen. . .' But he was attracted to her. There was no denying it, however he wouldn't let it become a problem. He never had before, but then again, he hadn't ever been attracted to anyone before this. And Kenshin couldn't deny that his attraction to her was what had caused him to vow to protect her, in the first place. 'And I called /her/ a fool,' Kenshin thought, wryly. 'I'm the one who's possibly throwing away a profitable career for nothing more than lust.'  
  
Kenshin's thoughts came to a halt. Was it just lust? He wondered. Would lust have made him decide not to kill? Would lust have made him want to protect someone he didn't even know? Kenshin paused in his steps and glanced down the stairs towards the direction of the dining room. 'No,' he realized, not lust. . .' But the only way he could describe this feeling was the way he felt when he looked into Kaoru's deep-blue eyes. It felt like he would drown, and it seemed as if he wanted to.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Misao was falling asleep on Kaoru's shoulder when she heard the loud knocking at the door. She started up and asked, while wiping away her drool, "Who's 'at?"  
  
"I don't know," Kaoru said, and snatched the remote away from Sanosuke then turned down the volume of the television.  
  
Misao heard the knock again, and Sanosuke, who was sitting next to Kaoru suggested, "Maybe you should answer it, weasel."  
  
Misao snapped out of it and went running to the door. Kaoru followed her, and Sanosuke stayed in the living room with Megumi, who was asleep on the floor wrapped in a sleeping bag, and Mr. Himura, who was sitting cross- legged on the floor and apparently watching the television.  
  
Misao yanked the door open and squealed with delight. It was her father, Hajime Saitou.  
  
"Dad!" She called out and flung herself into his arms. He had to lift the arm that held his cigarette away from her. He squeezed her to him with the free arm and said dryly, "Misao, get a hold of yourself."  
  
"Oh, Dad, pu-leaze. . ." Misao said. She stepped back, and it was then that she noticed the boy standing behind her father. "Who's that?" She questioned, sounding a bit like she was offended.  
  
"Oh," Saitou answered and glanced negligently back at the spiky-haired, brown-eyed kid. "The little brat calls himself 'Yahiko Myojin', and quite frequently, I might add," he finished with a cocky half-smile.  
  
"Hey!" the kid protested. "I am not a little brat!"  
  
"Mmmhmmm," Saitou replied and stepped inside the house. Yahiko followed with an extremely cross expression on his face.  
  
"Big bully," Yahiko muttered while wiping his ratty tennis shoes on the welcome mat.  
  
"But what is he /doing/ here, Dad?" Misao questioned.  
  
"What are any of us doing here?" Saitou teased.  
  
"/Dad/!" Misao complained. They began walking together into the living room.  
  
"Oh, yes, I found him while I was looking for evidence. I thought it would be best to bring him here to get him out of the way," Saitou answered.  
  
Misao got the feeling that maybe this 'Yahiko Myojin' /was/ the evidence, but she kept it to herself, for once.  
  
Kaoru whispered to Misao, "Misao, your dad reminds me of a wolf. . ." Her voice was slightly uneasy. Misao chuckled and glanced up at her father. Yes, that slicked back, black hair and those golden-brown eyes did tend to make him look a bit like a wolf, especially whenever he smiled. . .Misao sniffled a bit. She sure had missed him.  
  
Misao wasn't paying attention to where she was going, and she smacked right into Saitou's back. 'Why did he just stop like that?' she wondered until she looked around at what he was staring at.  
  
Mr. Himura was standing up and had turned to face her father. They were looking at each other as if they wanted to see blood, and lots of it.  
  
"What the heck are /you/ doing here?" Saitou asked Mr. Himura, harshly. Misao knew that when her father sounded like that, there was about to be some trouble. She edged away from him and pulled Kaoru away as well. Yahiko didn't seem to need any sort of warning. He followed them and stood fidgeting near Kaoru.  
  
Saitou discarded his cigarette, smashed it beneath a toe on the freshly vacuumed carpet, pulled his glock from the inside of his coat, and asked, "Don't any of you know who this man is?" He pointed the glock at Mr. Himura, and Kaoru gasped.  
  
She whispered frantically to Misao, "Tell him he's not any danger to us, Misao."  
  
Misao shook her head, knowing how stubborn her father was. "He won't listen. . .let's just wait a bit."  
  
Sanosuke stood up from the couch and incidentally was placed almost directly between Mr. Himura and her father. "Look," he said. "I don't know who you are, but Himura isn't about to do anything to any of us, no matter who he is."  
  
"Get out of the way, rooster-boy," Saitou snapped. Misao had to admit that Sano did look a bit like a rooster, with that spiky hair of his and that red bandanna that he insisted on wearing, but right now was not the time for laughing at jokes.  
  
"Sano," Kaoru warned her brother, but he just bristled, even further, and said, "You jerk, I told you that he's not going to hurt us."  
  
"But I'll hurt you, idiot, if you don't move out of the way," Saitou told him, coldly.  
  
Sanosuke started forward angrily, and was stopped by Mr. Himura, who stepped up beside him and placed a hand on his elbow. "Never mind, Sanosuke. I can take care of this." He dropped his hand and reached into his jacket, stepping closer to Saitou. Sanosuke moved father to the side, still looking flustered.  
  
Kaoru was suddenly clutching Misao's arm painfully. Misao was having a little trouble breathing. The situation was getting really serious.  
  
Mr. Himura began to pull out his gun. As if in slow motion, Misao saw her father pull the trigger of his glock. She covered her ears as the gun went off, and Kaoru released her arm to cover her own ears. Mr. Himura was no longer standing where he had been, now he was behind Saitou, who seemed to sense him there and whirled around. Guns inches away from each other, the two fighters stared into each other's eyes. Misao could see her father begin to squeeze his trigger. . .  
  
"Stop this, right now," Mr. Aoshi's voice cut into the tension. He stood near the end of the hallway. He was looking at Saitou and Mr. Himura, neither of which seemed to have noticed him. "There are innocent people here, or didn't you stop to think of that?" Mr. Aoshi questioned them. Misao marveled at how he always seemed to be calm and in control. "Saitou, what about Misao, what if a stray bullet had hit her?" He asked, logically. "Himura? Haven't you vowed to protect Kaoru and Sanosuke? What are you doing getting into a gun-fight when they are so close?"  
  
He said no more than that, but it finally seemed to register. Saitou slowly began to lower his gun, and Mr. Himura followed suite. Saitou slipped his gun back into his coat and questioned, while still eyeing Mr. Himura, who also put his gun away, "What is he doing here, Shinomori?"  
  
"He's protecting my niece and nephew," Mr. Aoshi answered. He walked father into the room.  
  
Saitou finally seemed to relax. "The rooster-boy and that scared little raccoon?" he questioned.  
  
Mr. Aoshi seemed to ignore the insult, "Yes, they are Souzou's children."  
  
"Ah," Saitou said, raising a brow. "That explains the family resemblance," he finished, sarcastically.  
  
Mr. Aoshi only nodded. "Yes, I suppose. Would you like some supper, Saitou? And who is this boy that you've brought with you?"  
  
"No thanks, and 'Yahiko Myojin'," Saitou answered. By then, everyone had started to relax. Mr. Himura had stepped to the side to stand beside Misao. Sanosuke had gone over to where Megumi lay, had knelt down, and was poking her in the ribs. She mumbled something in her sleep, snorted, then shot up smacking her forehead right into his.  
  
"Ouch!" Sanosuke exclaimed, rubbing his head.  
  
Megumi rubbed her eyes and saw him. She laughed, "That's what you get, Sano."  
  
"Evil fox," Sanosuke muttered, and went to stand beside Mr. Himura. Megumi got up and by then everyone was following Mr. Aoshi into the dining room, so she just went along with them. Misao wondered if she was even really awake, yet.  
  
Misao hopped along until she was standing beside her father again. She grasped his arm and skipped beside him the rest of the way into the kitchen despite the annoyed look he gave her. After all, she knew he was just pretending.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
A/N: Ai, so tired. . .sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo. . .oops fell asleep for a second. Jst kidding. :) Anyway, I thought, 'what the hey, it will be funny', who cares if it makes sense, right? I hope you liked this chapter. If you didn't. . .errr. . .uhm, try to pretend it doesn't exist. Hehhehehe. BlueLiath.  
  
Southpaw: Hey there! I decided that I /did/ need to change at least the Aoshi smiling parts, so I did. I hope you like it better now. (the changes are in ch's 5 and 6) Blueliath. 


	8. Chapter 8

Warning: There's a kind of steamy scene in this chapter, so I don't know, if you're not old enough to read, don't. Of course, I'm not there to stop you, so. . .::shrugs, and grins evilly:: But then again, that's why I tried to keep it pg13. . .::laughs evilly::  
  
Oh and PS: everyone is going to hate me by the time this chapter is done. It really sucks and I should be sued for writing such a horrible story.  
  
Disclaimer: do not own, do not own....  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Chapter Eight  
  
After they had eaten, all except for Mr. Saitou, who claimed that he'd already had supper, they went into the living room. Mr. Shinomori told Kaoru and Sanosuke what he had gotten done concerning their problem, that day. It turned out that yes, he had found the man, and no, there was still nothing he could do yet. Kaoru and Sano were just stuck, and that was it.  
  
Completely drained and depressed, Kaoru slipped away to Misao's room when no one seemed to be paying attention. She sat on Misao's bed and stared down at the floor, her fingers laced together and rested on her lap. Tears burned her eyes and slipped down her face. She let them fall onto her hands. . .  
  
"Miss Kaoru." Kaoru looked up. Her blurred vision caught a strong red color and then a black blob beneath it. Kenshin Himura. . .He entered the room, shutting the door behind him and coming to sit next to her on the bed. "Miss Kaoru, it must be hard for you. . .to feel so helpless. . ."  
  
"I'm alright. . ." she said half-heartedly. She moved to wipe her tears away and noticed him tuck his hands in his jacket pockets.  
  
"I guess I shouldn't have intruded," Mr. Himura said, and moved as if to stand to his feet.  
  
Kaoru shook her head and touched his arm. "No, please stay, tell me about why you became an assassin. . . tell me how you know how to clean so well." She smiled wryly and looked into his golden eyes.  
  
"First tell me why you hate guns so much," Mr. Himura requested.  
  
Kaoru released his arm and stared down at her lap. 'Well, I guess he should know something about me, if I'm going to ever get anything out of him,' she thought. "I. . .I guess because my father was killed by one. . ."  
  
"Souzou Sagara," Mr. Himura murmured, and Kaoru nodded her head, even though she realized he was probably only talking to himself. "Was he a good father, Miss Kaoru?"  
  
Kaoru glanced up at him quickly, "Of course. . .I mean, yes. Well, he wasn't around as much as he wanted to be because of his job, but he always tried to spend time with me and Sano when he could. I loved him very much. . ." Kaoru's voice cracked and she had to stop speaking for fear that she would begin to cry again.  
  
Mr. Himura said, "I don't remember anything about my childhood, I just know that there was a man who took care of me for a while. I think he died. . .I don't know. . .I was around eighteen when it happened. I lost my memory and after that I didn't have anywhere to go. But I had this gun. . .that was it. And I knew how to use it, so I did. . ."  
  
Kaoru said, "That's it? But how? You didn't go to a hospital? How were you hurt? Did anyone find you?"  
  
Mr. Himura shook his head, "I woke up in a house. It must have been where I lived. I found blood everywhere, but I wasn't injured except for a cut and bruise where a bullet must have grazed my head. I found pictures of myself and a man. I don't think he was my father. . .we just looked too different, but he must have taken care of me. We looked so happy. . ." Mr. Himura gazed away into the room, completely absorbed in his past. "I couldn't find anything except my identification card. It was almost like someone took everything. . .The only other thing I found besides my name was this gun. It was in the man's desk. . .the man in the pictures."  
  
"What happened then?" Kaoru questioned. Her heart seemed to be beating harder than usual.  
  
"I left the house. . .at first, I was only going to tell the police. I was going to let them take care of it. . .but I knew that if I did, then I might end up in foster care. I didn't want that, I wanted to find him, or find the people who had killed him.  
  
"So, I began by asking the neighbors questions. None of them knew much about me, but they had seen us, the man and me, coming and going. One woman said that she'd seen a black car pull up at our house that same day. She said she'd only noticed because it wasn't our usual car. A man in a black suit had gotten out and gone into our house. Awhile later, he'd come out and driven away.  
  
"I asked her which way and she told me. I found the keys to the car in my driveway and left. . .don't ask me what I expected to find, but I did find something. I found the car parked at a gas station a few miles away. I waited until the man left. . .I followed him in my car. . .He stopped at a club. . .I followed him in. I walked right past all the bouncers, they hardly noticed me, or maybe they did. . .maybe they just didn't want to mess with me. They must have seen the look on my face.  
  
"I followed the man into a back room. All his associates were hanging out there. Drinking, laughing, with women hanging off of their arms. When they saw me they all went quiet. That was when he turned around to look at me. His eyes got round, I saw him pulling his gun out. . .and then. . .I shot him. I don't remember pulling out the gun. I don't remember squeezing the trigger. I just remember seeing that shocked expression on his face." Kenshin stopped speaking for a moment. Kenshin touched his left cheek, covering his cross-shaped scar. "His gun went off twice, but I was moving so quickly. . ."  
  
"No one tried to kill me, instead they sat me down and handed me a drink. It turns out I'd moved so fast that they decided it was in their best interests to make me one of them instead of trying to get rid of me." Kenshin frowned. "I was in shock, but I think I knew that I had no where else to go, so I just stayed with them. They were all killers, and that was what I learned to do. At first, I thought I might be able to find the man, but after awhile I just gave up. That was about ten years ago."  
  
Kaoru wasn't quite sure what to think, she just knew that after this, she wouldn't be able to see him the same way. Was he really a killer or was he just a boy who had lost his father and fallen in with the wrong crowd? She didn't know. She said, "Maybe now you can find him. Mr. Shinomori---he could help. . ."  
  
Kenshin actually started. "I don't even know if I want to find him anymore. He's probably dead. . ."  
  
Kaoru shook her head. "Kenshin, you can't just give up. That's where you went wrong." It didn't surprise her that she'd used his first name. She just couldn't call him "Mr. Himura," anymore, after what he'd just shared with her. Kaoru touched his arm. "You need hope to survive, not just that gun. . ."  
  
He studied her for a moment and then looked away again. "It's too late, Miss Kaoru."  
  
Kaoru's hand dropped away from him, but as it did, he turned and captured it from her. Kaoru gasped, but didn't pull away. He scared her, but not so much because she thought he would kill her. Maybe it was the idea that he'd thrown away his conscience. . .or maybe that he had one and still made the choice that he had. Those eyes, too, so dangerous. . .cold. . .he was kissing her. His lips felt wet and soft, yet urgent and demanding, in some way. . .Why did she feel so warm? Her cheeks, her lips. . .his other arm had slipped around her back. He'd pressed her to him. . . why couldn't she breathe?  
  
He broke away from her, and she wished that he hadn't and was scared that he would kiss her again. "Why. . .?" she croaked out.  
  
"Please forgive me, Miss Kaoru. . ." Kenshin said. Kaoru nodded and stared at her lap. She felt Kenshin lift off the bed, and looked to see him leaving the room. She wanted to call him back, but she just sat there. 'Kenshin, am I falling for you?' She wondered. The door shut behind him, and she winced.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Sanosuke saw the look on Kaoru's face as she slipped from the room. She was going to cry, he knew it. . .It was eating at him, too. He got up as well and went to the room where he'd slept in last night. He began to pace back and forth.  
  
Shinomori had said his name was "Makoto Shishio." That was enough to go on, right? He would find this guy, he would ask Shinomori, and then he would go after this guy. That was it. . .he wasn't going to let this control the rest of his life. He wasn't going to let Kaoru suffer like that. He would find this "Shishio" guy, and he would kill him.  
  
'Idiot!' He rebuked himself. 'You don't even have a gun.' A moment later he thought, 'But Dad did. And it's still at the house. Kaoru left it in a drawer. . .all I need now is to know where this guy is at. . .'  
  
Once he'd determined to do it, he left the room to go in search of Aoshi Shinomori. One way or another he would find out where this guy was, even if he had to lie to Shinomori to do so.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Misao followed Mr. Aoshi to his office and sat down on the couch beside him. He wasn't letting it show, but she could tell he was brooding about something.  
  
"Mr. Aoshi, what is it?" she asked, and slipped her hand into his larger one. He looked down and then squeezed it gently.  
  
"You shouldn't have come in here, Misao. . .not while your father is here." He said to her in his deep, slightly gravelly voice.  
  
"It's not like we're doing anything," she teased while trying to suppress a mischievous smile.  
  
He looked at her with those deep-green eyes. "Yes, but, you know that I plan to marry you eventually---when you're older." He was always so blunt. It just took the fun out of everything.  
  
"Mr. Aoshi," Misao said. "I'm starting to wonder if you really mean that. Why haven't you asked my dad about it yet?"  
  
"Of course I mean it. But at the moment, if I asked your father, he would try to de-man me with his glock. And although I am quite capable of defending myself, I have no wish to kill my future father-in-law," Mr. Aoshi stated, flatly, though Misao thought she detected a twinkle in his beautiful eyes.  
  
Misao rolled her eyes and said, "Please. . .anyway, why are you so gloomy? Is it because of Kaoru and the rooster?"  
  
"I wish there was something more I could do for them," Mr. Aoshi said quietly. Misao sighed and leaned her head against his shoulder.  
  
Just then there was a knock at the door. Misao got up to answer it. "It's the rooster," she called to Mr. Aoshi and let Sanosuke into the room, shutting the door behind him.  
  
Sanosuke stood there in front of Mr. Aoshi, hands in jeans pockets, trying, possibly, to appear nonchalant. "I want to know more about this 'Makoto Shishio' guy," he said.  
  
Mr. Aoshi asked, "What do you want to know?"  
  
Misao sat back down and listened to the two men. Sanosuke seemed to be trying to get through a whole long list. The strange thing was none of the questions he was asking seemed to be very important to him. Then he asked where the "Makoto" guy was staying. That's when Misao's instincts perked up. What was Sanosuke up to? Whatever it was, she had a feeling it definitely wasn't going to turn out good. . .  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Yahiko Myojin fidgeted for the hundredth time. Saitou was asking him a whole bunch of questions and sooner or later he would say something that he shouldn't.  
  
"Why were you sneaking around the club, in the first place, brat?" Saitou demanded.  
  
Yahiko retorted, "I was not sneaking around!"  
  
"Okay, what do you call it then? Investigating?" Saitou answered, scathingly.  
  
"No!" Yahiko protested and stared down at the holes in his sneakers.  
  
"What did you see there, kid?" Saitou questioned.  
  
"Nothing!" Yahiko yelled. "I already told you."  
  
"I know you did. But since I think you're lying, I'm waiting for you to tell the truth before I stop asking," Saitou explained as if he were speaking to someone very stupid.  
  
Yahiko glared down at his shoes. "Leave me alone. . ." he mumbled.  
  
Saitou grabbed his ear and twisted, while Yahiko tried to get away. "Ouch, ouch, let go!"  
  
"Now, will you tell me the truth?" Saitou asked.  
  
"Let go! Ouch!" Yahiko protested. "Okay, okay, I will! Just let go!"  
  
Saitou released him and asked, "Well?"  
  
Yahiko rubbed his ear. "I was waiting for my dad. . .I saw that guy, Soujiro, take some dope from some other guy, and say that he was sure that Mister Shishio would be very pleased. I think they were talking about making more of it, or something."  
  
"Shishio!" Saitou exclaimed. "I hope you're not making this up from what Shinomori was saying earlier," he warned.  
  
"No," Yahiko answered, sullenly, "that was the name. It must be the same guy though. . . Anyway, the 'Soujiro' guy handed the dope back to the other guy and left, and that's when you came along."  
  
"By the way," Saitou said, "you didn't explain what you were doing there in the first place."  
  
'Oh, crap. Now I'm going to be in big trouble. . .' Yahiko thought. "I was, uhm. . .waiting for Yutaro, my friend. We were going to go check out the place on a dare, but, I guess he chickened out, or he got there after you came. . ."  
  
"Stupid kids," Saitou grumbled. "You'd better be glad no one saw you. Now, what's your father's number, so that I can call him and have him pick you up."  
  
Yahiko told him, and then Saitou got the phone. Yahiko sweated the whole time he was waiting. When would the agony ever end? His father was going to be royally ticked off. It wasn't just that he could've gotten hurt, or something. It was that his father didn't much like to get noticed by anyone. He was hiding out, or something. 'Oh, well, it's too late now. My goose is cooked.' Yahiko bemoaned his fate, as he heard Saitou speaking to his father. He winced when he heard the loud yelling from the other end of the phone.  
  
Saitou hung up after a bit and said, "He's coming over."  
  
Yahiko thought he would perhaps die. Unmercifully of God, he didn't.  
  
The fox lady, named Megumi, asked him, "Are you alright, kid?"  
  
"Yeah," he said, unconvincingly.  
  
Megumi smiled at him and said, "Don't worry. I'm sure he won't be that hard on you."  
  
"That's what you think," Yahiko moaned.  
  
It seemed like forever before there was a loud, thudding knock at the door. About that time, the 'Battousai' guy came wandering down the stairs and into the living room. Saitou went to answer the door.  
  
"What's going on?" Himura asked.  
  
Megumi answered, "The kid is in trouble, and his father just got here to take him home."  
  
"Oh," Himura answered, and sat down next to Yahiko on the couch.  
  
Just then, his father and Saitou came walking into the living room. As, usual, Seijuro Myojin looked pleasant, tall, and handsome, with his long, dark hair tied into a low ponytail. But that didn't reassure Yahiko. Seijuro /always/ looked pleasant, even when he was irritated. His students at the school loved him for it, especially the girls. But Yahiko hated it 'cause he could never tell when he was going to get thwacked on the head and called 'stupid son'. Maybe that was why he was surprised when his father stopped in his tracks and openly gaped.  
  
Yahiko realized what he was staring at when Himura stood up.  
  
"Kenshin?" Seijuro asked, and Himura's eyes seemed to grow wider.  
  
Yahiko decided that he would stay quiet no matter what was happening, because maybe God had decided to be merciful, after all.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
A/N: Oh, no! Another cliffie! No, run for your lives! Don't you just hate it when Rurouni Kenshin has cliffhangers. . .Boy they make me upset. But not as upset as you're probably going to be with me right now. . .that's why I'm laughing nervously and cringing, and also why I plan to get the next chapter done before I post this one. Hehehhe. Well, gotta go, Blueliath.  
  
Southpaw: hehe! Thank you! You are great for reviewing so many times. You make me happy. ::Sniffles:: 


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I do not own Rurouni Kenshin. I don't even own the computer I'm using right now.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Chapter Nine  
  
Kenshin stared in amazement at the man who was standing before him. All this time he'd been alive, and he'd never come looking for him. . .Kenshin's eyes narrowed.  
  
"I thought you were dead," he told the man, barely suppressing the anger.  
  
"Kenshin. . . you. . . I thought /you/ were dead. How are you still alive?" The man questioned.  
  
"There was blood everywhere. I should be asking you why /you/ are still alive," Kenshin retorted.  
  
"I. . .you were shot in the head, Kenshin," the man said, helpless beneath Kenshin's accusation.  
  
"The bullet only grazed my skull. I woke up and you were gone. All I found was your gun," Kenshin replied, oh so coldly.  
  
"I---I was in bad shape, I hardly knew what I was doing. I thought that you were dead and I needed to get out of there. If those men had known that I was still alive, then they would have come after me, again." The man took a step toward Kenshin, and Kenshin made an angry 'tsch' noise and retreated until the back of his legs touched the couch.  
  
The man stopped, straightened his back sharply, and smiled cockily. "Stupid foster son, I didn't just leave you. I believed you were dead. Not all that blood was mine, you know."  
  
Kenshin took the 'foster son' part in, and second absorbed the man's vow that he hadn't just left Kenshin. "I don't remember you. . .I only recognize you from the pictures at the house."  
  
The man blinked. "I knew that that head wound was serious. Maybe I overestimated it a bit, but. . .you really don't remember, stupid foster son?"  
  
"No," Kenshin said. Right then, he noticed Kaoru hovering on the edge of the stairs, holding onto the banister and looking very pale. He turned his attention back to the man. "I don't even know your name. Is it 'Myojin' like your son's?"  
  
The man shook his head. "Great, now I have to tell the whole story. Okay, this is how it goes: I was a police officer, like your friend the wolf here. I found out about some things that I shouldn't have known. That man came after me. My gun was in the desk, if I remember correctly. He shot me in the stomach, and you came in and got yourself shot in the head." Kenshin didn't miss the slightly accusatory phrasing.  
  
"I saw all the blood and decided that you were dead and got the heck out of there. I took all the important stuff and drove away. By the way, I left /your/ car there. I changed my name from 'Seijuro Hiko' to 'Seijuro Myojin,' and got married and had a son. I got divorced a couple years later and gained custody of Yahiko. Although, I'm /still/ not sure why I did that." Hiko cast an annoyed look in his son's direction. "Now I'm an English teacher at a local junior high. Of course, my stupid son hates that, because I know exactly when he gets into trouble with one of his stupid friends like that idiot boy, Yutaro."  
  
Kenshin glanced at Yahiko and saw him wince. "Very interesting," Saitou said, and lit a cigarette.  
  
Hiko asked, "I noticed something, stupid foster son. What happened to your eyes? They've changed color since the last time I saw you."  
  
"I'm surprised you remember," Kenshin snapped.  
  
"It's not that hard to remember," Hiko answered dryly, "Especially when your eyes change from the silliest shade of blue-lavender to a creepy looking yellow."  
  
Kenshin felt slightly annoyed. "I don't know what happened to them."  
  
Hiko shrugged, and questioned, "What have you been doing, lately, stupid foster son?"  
  
Kenshin said lightly, "Killing people with the gun I found in your desk."  
  
Hiko started, and glanced around the room. His eyes settled on Kaoru, for a moment then he looked back at Kenshin. "You became an assassin?"  
  
Kenshin answered, "That's right. I hope you don't expect me to give you back your gun. I've grown somewhat attached to it."  
  
Hiko glared at him. "I'm wondering if maybe I should punish you along with Yahiko."  
  
"Dad!" Yahiko protested and jumped to his feet. Kenshin placed a hand on his shoulder.  
  
"I think Saitou already punished him enough," Kenshin said, casting Saitou a cold look.  
  
Saitou shrugged and said while exhaling smoke, "All in a day's work."  
  
"Jerk," Yahiko muttered.  
  
Hiko smiled, and shrugged. "I guess, stupid children, that I'll let you both slide just this once. What do you think, girl?" He looked toward Kaoru, and she jumped with surprise. "Do you think I should let them escape from the beating of a life-time?" Kaoru's eyes widened, and she nodded animatedly. Hiko laughed then said, "Well, then, I suppose I'll be taking Yahiko home then?"  
  
Yahiko made as if to go forward, but Kenshin's hand was still on his shoulder. And for some reason he'd just tightened it. Yahiko looked up at him with questioning brown eyes. Kenshin released his shoulder and said to Hiko, "Maybe you could stay a while. . ."  
  
Hiko nodded. "Alright then."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Sanosuke left Shinomori's office and headed out the door. He didn't meet much interference, seeing as everybody was busy having some kind of 'moment' in the living room. He didn't know how he was going to get back to his house. He figured he would just have to walk.  
  
It didn't matter. He was used to walking places. He would get there eventually. . .And when he did, he would find the gun and go after Shishio. Then it would be over. . .but he had to stay alive. He wasn't about to die and leave Kaoru with that burden on her shoulders. No, he would kill Shishio. He had to, for Kaoru's sake.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Saitou left the living room in search of his daughter, Misao. Where had she run off to now? She was probably outside feeding the birds or the dogs, or something just as stupid. No, he could hear her voice. She had the most enthusiastic voice of anyone he knew besides her mother, Tokio. Ah, but Tokio had been more quiet then Misao, except for when she'd laughed. That was how they reminded him of each other. But Tokio was dead now, and he was looking for his only daughter.  
  
'Here she is,' he thought, coming to a halt, in front of a door. Who was that she was talking to so happily? Saitou's eyes narrowed. He recognized that voice; it was Aoshi Shinomori's.  
  
Saitou burst into the room, and found himself looking at an office. It was probably Shinomori's. His daughter and Shinomori were sitting on a sofa together quite amorously holding hands. Well, Misao looked loving, and he didn't doubt that somewhere past that deadpanned face of Shinomori's was some sort of similarly human feeling.  
  
"What the heck are you doing with my daughter?" Saitou demanded. Misao looked thoroughly guilty, but she stayed right where she was.  
  
Shinomori said calmly, "Saitou, we were only talking, I assure you."  
  
Saitou frowned. A second later he was pointing his gun at Shinomori. "Dad!" Misao exclaimed. "Don't shoot him!"  
  
"Misao, if you don't get out of here right now, I'm going to shoot you too," Saitou threatened.  
  
"Da-ad!" Misao protested.  
  
"I suppose now wouldn't be a good time to ask for Misao's hand in marriage," Aoshi said.  
  
Saitou took it in. 'Is he completely serious?' He put his gun away. "Misao?" He questioned, not knowing what to do next.  
  
"He really does want to marry me, Dad," Misao exclaimed. "Will you say 'yes'?" She questioned, hope shining in her big green eyes. Darn those eyes! Saitou could never turn them down.  
  
After a long, suspenseful moment of deliberation, he finally said, "Fine. You can marry my daughter, Shinomori, but if you hurt her---even once---I will kill you," Saitou warned.  
  
Shinomori's mouth dropped open slightly. "Thank you, sir," he said and shut it.  
  
A second later, Saitou was knocked to the ground when Misao flung herself into his arms. "Oh, dad! Thank you!" She exclaimed and planted his face with wet kisses.  
  
"Misao. . ." Saitou grumbled, and tried to pry her off of him. "Misao!" He bellowed. His daughter sheepishly got off and went to sit back down next to Shinomori. Her eyes were all teary and the biggest smile he'd ever seen, which was saying a lot when it came to Misao, was on her face.  
  
Saitou nervously lit a cigarette. "I'm leaving before this gets any more uncomfortable," he said and strode from the room with what dignity he had left.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Kaoru sat on the floor of the living room beside Megumi. The kid, Yahiko, sat beside her and was making comments about how ugly she looked. 'As if I /need/ another brother,' Kaoru thought with exasperation, and wondered for the second time where Sanosuke had wandered off to.  
  
Kenshin and Hiko were sitting on the couch. They were pretending not to notice each other, it seemed, but every now and then, one of them would glance at the other one. 'Oh, man,' Kaoru thought. 'What idiots. . .' She sighed and bonked Yahiko on the head for calling her ugly once again, and asked, "Mr. Hiko, how did you come to adopt Kenshin, in the first place."  
  
Hiko looked at her and chuckled. "Well, Kaoru, I actually didn't adopt him. . .he was sort of just staying with me. No one complained about it, so that's how it stayed."  
  
Kenshin retorted, "She means: what happened to my parents and why were /you/ taking care of me?"  
  
"Woh, stupid foster son, there's no need to get your underwear in a bunch. Your parents died, and I happened to be involved in the case. You were just a kid, maybe like six years old. No one else wanted to deal with you right then, so I took you home with me, and unfortunately, never had the sense to get rid of you."  
  
Kenshin was silent, so Kaoru asked, "How did his parent's die?"  
  
Hiko's sight seemed to turn inward, "A break in at their house---a burglary gone wrong. They were both shot, and killed. I found Kenshin hiding in a closet."  
  
Kaoru felt her eyes well up with tears. 'Poor Kenshin.'  
  
"Oh you poor thing," Megumi said. "But you say you don't remember any of it now?"  
  
Kenshin nodded. Kaoru saw him watching her, and they sat like that for a moment until Yahiko asked, "So, Kenshin, is this ugly raccoon your girlfriend? Boy, are you going to have some scary kids!" He laughed raucously until Kaoru knocked him over the head. She felt her eyebrow twitching slightly.  
  
"Ouch!" Yahiko said and rubbed his head. "It's the truth. Did you ever stop to think what a baby with gold eyes would look like? Really creepy. . ."  
  
----insert a picture of an infant with the Battousai's head on it's body. :)----  
  
Megumi and Hiko laughed, but Kaoru's eyebrow twitched even harder. Kenshin managed to catch her eye before she pounded Yahiko into the ground. He said, "I think our children will have blue eyes."  
  
Kaoru felt herself blushing even though she knew he was probably just saying that to make her feel better.  
  
"Ooooh," Yahiko taunted. "Ugly /is/ your girlfriend, then!"  
  
Kaoru didn't even look at him. She just made a fist and thoroughly squashed him with it. Yahiko fell over and moaned, his feet twitching a little bit.  
  
Megumi asked, "Has anyone seen the rooster?"  
  
Kaoru was reminded that she hadn't seen her brother for almost a whole hour, now. "No. . ." she said, beginning to worry. "Kenshin, have you seen Sano?"  
  
Kenshin shook his head. Saitou entered the room and asked, "Was someone looking for the rooster-boy?"  
  
"I was," Megumi answered.  
  
"I think he left after Hiko got here," Saitou said.  
  
Kaoru jumped to her feet, "He left?" She exclaimed.  
  
"Who left?" Misao asked, as she came into the living room with Mr. Shinomori a step behind her.  
  
"Sano," Kaoru said. She sank onto the sofa beside Kenshin.  
  
"What?" Misao yelled. "Mr. Aoshi, do you think he went after Shishio?"  
  
"So you think that's why he was asking me all those questions," Mr. Shinomori asked Misao, while Kaoru was in the middle of having a heart attack.  
  
Misao sat on the floor beside Kaoru and told her, "It's alright Kaoru, Mr. Aoshi will find him, don't worry." She patted Kaoru's back comfortingly.  
  
"Kaoru," Mr. Shinomori said, "You know your brother best---what do you think he's planning to do?"  
  
Kaoru thought about it for a second. Sanosuke was incredibly stubborn, and he had a tendency to not think things through very well. Those two qualities combined made something unfortunately a little bit dangerous, possibly for Sano, too. But what he was actually planning to do was another matter. But if Kaoru knew her brother, and she did, than he would definitely not be happy about finding out that they would be stuck in this place forever. He would want to do something. And knowing Sano's temper, it would be something like. . .  
  
"I th-think he might be planning to fight with this Shishio," Kaoru said, weakly. She felt slightly lightheaded and breathless.  
  
"Alright," Mr. Shinomori said. "I will go find him, then."  
  
"I'll go too," Kenshin said, and got to his feet. Mr. Shinomori only glanced at him and nodded.  
  
Kaoru looked up at the red haired man, and found him looking back down at her. "Kenshin. . ." she said. It was almost a whisper. "Please remember what I told you about hope."  
  
Kenshin gazed into her eyes for a long while. Finally, he nodded. "I will."  
  
Saitou interrupted their moment. "Come on, Himura, let's go." Kaoru blinked. 'Saitou's going too?' She wondered.  
  
Kenshin nodded at Saitou and then looked back at Kaoru. "I promise I'll bring Sanosuke back safely, Miss Kaoru."  
  
Kaoru nodded back at him. "Thank you. . ."  
  
She only hoped that nothing would go wrong. She wasn't sure if she expected Kenshin to not kill anyone for her sake, or not. But suddenly she knew that Sanosuke wasn't the only one she wanted to come back safely.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
A/N: Oh, no! It's the end of the chapter again. I decided I needed to end it quickly. It was a real struggle to get through this chapter, for some reason. I kept getting tired and stuff. Anyway, I hope everybody enjoys it, and I don't know if I will be able to post the next chapter very soon or not. I've got some stuff that I really need to do, and I've sort of been avoiding it, so we'll see. ::looks thoughtful as she decides what she can afford to get away with. ^_^:: Thanks for the reviews, everyone! Bye, BlueLiath. 


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I do not own Rurouni Kenshin, nor do I claim to, and so on.  
  
A/N: I'm sorry for anything that doesn't make sense. I have a tendency to forget things that I've written before, and then when I look back I'm like, oh no! Because it doesn't fit with the next thing I write. So please excuse this terrible fault of mine. I'm striving to do better.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Sanosuke snuck in through the back of the house. He went through the hallway and straight to his parent's old bedroom. The gun would probably be in a drawer in there, probably the one on his father's side of the bed. Sano paused when he entered the bedroom.  
  
He could see his mother sitting at the dresser, in front of the mirror, combing her long, wavy chestnut hair. Souzou was sitting on the bed watching her. He smiled as Sanosuke entered, and asked, "What is it, son?"  
  
The ghosts of Sano's memory disappeared, and he let out a long sigh. What would his father think of him if he knew what Sano was going to do? He'd probably be disappointed, Sano realized. But that wasn't going to stop him.  
  
Sanosuke swiped away a trickle of sweat from his brow, and headed for the bedside dresser of drawers. He was still a little winded from his long walk, and to rest, he sat on the bed beside the dresser and opened the top drawer. Odds and ends. . .papers. . .the gun. Sano drew out the old gun and examined it. Was it loaded? No, but two clips were nestled in the drawer beside it. Had Souzou really used this gun? Sano wondered. Of course he had. . . Was his spirit closer to it? Could Sano sense him if he just stayed sitting there long enough?  
  
Sanosuke frowned and rose to his feet, shoving the gun into his jeans pocket. It didn't matter. . . Souzou was gone. He wouldn't be disappointed; he wouldn't be close because he was dead, and someone like Makoto Shishio had been responsible. So, so what if Souzou wasn't around, anymore? Sano was going to do this for him, anyway.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Kenshin waited for Saitou to stop the car before he got out. For some reason, they'd ridden in his car instead of Aoshi's van. Less conspicuous, Kenshin supposed. But then again, maybe it was just an ego thing. Kenshin followed the two other men into the huge, company-type building. It was interesting that the security guards hadn't tried to stop them from entering. Maybe this Shishio guy was expecting them. . .  
  
That really didn't bode well for them. . .  
  
"Do you think Sanosuke is even here yet?" Kenshin asked. "He would have had to have walked, that he would." Saitou gave him an odd look before answering, and Kenshin realized he'd just repeated himself somewhat quaintly. He thought about it, and realized he'd done it the other day, as well, when he'd found Kaoru examining his gun.  
  
"Maybe not, but he's sure to get here, in time. Besides, did you think it was just a coincidence that this Shishio gave the security guards permission to let us pass through the front gate?" Saitou's voice, as usual, held a quality of sarcasm to it.  
  
Kenshin chose not to answer, but Aoshi said, "We'll see what he's up to when we find him."  
  
They stopped in the front foyer to look for Shishio's office. It was at the top floor, of course. Where else would it have been? They went into the elevator where Aoshi punched in the floor number while Saitou lit up a cigarette.  
  
It reminded him of something, and he said, "You put out your cigarette on the living room floor. I was vacuuming all day, that I was." Kenshin was surprised at himself, to say the least.  
  
Aoshi glanced back at them, for a second, but quickly looked away. Saitou asked caustically, "What? Are you expecting me to apologize, Battousai?" Kenshin was silent, and Saitou snorted, rudely.  
  
The elevator stopped, and the doors came sliding open. The three men stepped out of it and into the blue carpeted hallway. They turned to the right and went down the corridor to the last door. Before Aoshi's knuckles even hit the wood, it was opened from the inside. A pretty woman, with long brown hair and dark brown eyes let them into the office. She was wearing a sleek gray business suit with a skirt that was rather short.  
  
"Thank you, Yumi," a voice emanated from the other end of the room where a man lounged in a comfortable leather chair behind a big rectangular desk. The dark haired man smoked a large cigar and had his feet propped up on the desk and crossed over each other. He was wearing a black business suit, and Kenshin noticed a suspicious bulk beneath the jacket. He had a gun on him.  
  
"Welcome to my office, gentlemen," the man, who was supposedly Makoto Shishio, said genially. As the woman went to stand beside him, Kenshin noticed the other man in the office. He had short brown hair and beady brown eyes, and was wearing a smirk on his longish, ugly face that rankled Kenshin in a primitive sort of way.  
  
"I am Makoto Shishio, as you are aware of," the dark-haired man said. He waved his hand toward the horse-faced man, "And this is my associate, Konryu Takeda," he waved his hand toward the woman. "This is Yumi, my secretary. Gentlemen, I'm glad you came."  
  
"What kind of game are you playing, Shishio?" Kenshin asked. From behind him came a young, amiable voice. . .  
  
"Mr. Shishio doesn't play games, Mr. Himura." Kenshin spun around to see a young man, with dark hair, wearing a white t-shirt beneath a navy blue suit jacket and a pair of navy blue pants.  
  
'Strange,' Kenshin thought, and asked, "Who are you?"  
  
The young man smiled with exaggerated cheerfulness and said, "I apologize. My name is Soujiro Seta. I work for Mr. Shishio."  
  
Kenshin's eyes narrowed as he realized the young man was also wearing a gun beneath his jacket. However, he turned back to Shishio and questioned, "You obviously knew that we were coming. What are you planning to do?"  
  
"Why nothing," Shishio said. "At least not until your young friend, Sanosuke Sagara comes, as well. I hope that you will be patient until then. Perhaps you'd like to sit---have a drink?" He offered.  
  
"Enough!" Saitou snapped. "What are your intentions, Shishio?" He asked.  
  
Shishio raised a dark brow and answered, "Well, I plan to kill you all, of course."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Sano made it to the security gate and cursed. 'Great,' he thought. 'Now how am I going to get passed the security guard?' He thought about it for a moment then decided, 'I guess I'll just try to walk in. And if they try to stop me, I'll just use a little "necessary force" on them.' Sano grinned wickedly and strode forward. Strangely, no one tried to stop him.  
  
He got inside, and the woman at the front desk asked him, "Are you Sanosuke Sagara?"  
  
Sano did a double take and asked stupidly, "Who me?"  
  
The woman smiled and nodded. "Mr. Shishio is expecting you. Go straight to the top floor and turn right. That's his office."  
  
Sanosuke's eyes bulged. He was beginning to smell something fishy. 'What the heck is going on?' He wondered. He took the elevator to the top floor and got off. He turned right and went to the door at the end of the hall. He was about to knock when the door opened. He started and found himself looking into the brown eyes of a beautiful woman. Then he saw the people behind her.  
  
'Himura! Saitou and Shinomori?' "What the heck are you guys doing here?" he asked. This was getting incredibly outrageous.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Shishio's last statement was intruded upon by the arrival of one Sanosuke Sagara. Kenshin saw the tell-tale sign of a gun in Sano's jeans pocket and frowned.  
  
"What the heck are you guys doing here?" Sanosuke exclaimed.  
  
Kenshin stepped forward, walking past the insanely smiley Seta to stand before Sanosuke. He pulled back a fist and hit the younger man in the face. Sano's deep brown eyes went round and he asked, "What was that for?"  
  
"Did you really think coming here was the right thing to do?" Kenshin asked, sternly. Sanosuke just stared at him blankly. "What would Kaoru have done if you had gotten yourself killed?" Kenshin held out his hand. "Give me the gun, Sano. You're not fighting for the right reasons, that you are not."  
  
For a second, he thought he saw the flicker of anger in Sanosuke's dark eyes, and then it was gone. Sano reached into his pocket and removed the weapon. He handed it to Kenshin, and Kenshin took it to Saitou.  
  
"Here, I'm sure you'll know what to with this," he said as he handed it over to the taller man. Saitou raised a brow and took the gun from Kenshin, slipping it into his coat.  
  
Sanosuke came to stand beside Kenshin, "Is that Shishio?" He asked in a low, nonchalant voice. Kenshin nodded.  
  
"Now that you're all paying attention again," Shishio said. "I will tell you my plans. I have decided that you four men are too dangerous to me for these reasons: Number one, Detective Saitou knows that I'm involved in a drug trade. Number two, Mr. Himura might be hired to kill me by any one of my enemies, now that he's not working for me, himself. Number three, Mr. Shinomori was getting too close to some very important information. And number four, I just don't think it would be expedient to keep a man who wants to kill me alive."  
  
"Wait a second," Sanosuke interrupted. "Kenshin, you said that you met this guy, how come you never volunteered his name, or anything?" He turned on Kenshin with narrowed, angry eyes.  
  
Kenshin said, "I never said that I met him."  
  
"But you said that he. . .you lied!" Sanosuke protested.  
  
Kenshin corrected, "No, I just told you that he looked like any other crime lord. I was technically telling the truth. But I hadn't ever met him in person. He'd hired me over the internet and used a pseudonym."  
  
Sanosuke looked about ready to bust, he was so keyed up. "Get over it, rooster head," Saitou hissed. "We have more important things to consider, at the moment." Sanosuke bristled, but he shut up for the moment.  
  
"First," Shishio said. "I'm going to allow Soujiro a chance to kill one of you or all of you. Will one of you volunteer, or do I have to call names?" He suggested languorously.  
  
Kenshin took a step forward. "I'll fight him, but I'd like to know the conditions if I win."  
  
"Well," Shishio answered, a smile curling at his lips. "I suppose I'll fight you next, then."  
  
Sano looked angry and insulted, but Kenshin nodded. "Very well."  
  
"Over here, Mr. Himura," Soujiro called. Kenshin turned and followed him out of the room. Saitou, Shinomori, Sanosuke, and Yumi followed behind.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Kaoru sat outside the house on the porch. She supposed it was safe for the moment, since everyone was probably over at wherever Shishio was, now. Yahiko was inside with his father and Megumi. Misao sat on the porch swing with Kaoru. Misao was singing some school rhyme.  
  
'Where are you right now, Sano?' Kaoru wondered. Where was Kenshin? Were they both safe? Would they come home? Would they be alright? Her gloomy thoughts were interrupted by the appearance of a spiky, blond head of hair bobbing toward them on the driveway.  
  
The man was tall and in one hand he was holding a long, very sharp looking knife. He smiled at the two girls as he approached.  
  
"This is not good," Misao said. "Come on Kaoru, let's go inside."  
  
"Good idea," Kaoru agreed. She and Misao got to their feet, but by that time, the man had already reached the front steps.  
  
"Not so fast, pretty ladies," he said with a terrible southern accent. He lifted his blade and slowly drew his tongue along the flat side of it. "I've got something special to give you. . ."  
  
Kaoru and Misao both ran inside, Misao screaming like it was possible the volume would save her life. The man kept the door from closing with his shoe and followed them into the house. They fled into the living room with the lunatic calling pleasantly from behind them, "Hold on a second, girls, don't be scared of little old Cho, now. . ."  
  
"What's going on?" Hiko questioned as the girls came running past him to hide beside Yahiko and Megumi.  
  
"This crazy guy is trying to kill us!" Misao yelled.  
  
"Is that all?" Hiko questioned, dryly. He stood in front of the group, who were all scared out of their wits by then, including Yahiko and Megumi.  
  
Cho said, "Oh, and here I was thinking that there would be no one worth fighting over here. Who are you by the way?" He asked Hiko.  
  
"Seijuro Myojin, formerly Seijuro Hiko. Who the heck are you, broom head?" Hiko demanded.  
  
"Me?" Cho asked, raising his eyebrows as if he was surprised. "I'm just a simple man, really. . .I go by the name "Cho," but you can call me--- "  
  
"Never mind," Hiko snapped. "Are you going to stand there forever ranting or are you going to make your move?"  
  
Cho shrugged, then a second later he was charging Hiko with the long knife raised overhead. Hiko stepped aside and brought his hand down towards the back of Cho's neck in a Karate chop. Cho swung around just in time to avoid Hiko's maneuver, and aimed his knife for Hiko's ribs. Hiko jumped back and a second later had delivered a round house that cracked into Cho's wrist, knocking the knife out of his hand. Then he smashed him in the face with his fist. The spiky haired man went sprawling to the floor. . .that was when Yahiko smashed a lamp over his head. It effectively knocked the lights out of the would-be assassin.  
  
Everyone stared at Yahiko, dumbfounded. He yelled nervously, "What!"  
  
Kaoru stated it best, "It just came out of the blue that's all, little Yahiko."  
  
"I'm not little!" Yahiko protested even more loudly, but everyone just laughed.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
The fighters grouped in a large warehouse-type room downstairs. Kenshin squared off with Seta. Seta was on one side of the room with Yumi hanging around by his side, and Saitou, Sano, and Shinomori were on Kenshin's side of the room, looking passively on or scowling evilly at the other two.  
  
"I should warn you, Mr. Himura," Seta began, advancing toward the middle of the room, "That I am rather fast. . ."  
  
Kenshin also moved forward, drawing his weapon from within his leather jacket. "Is that so?" He questioned casually.  
  
Seta smiled like a dangerous simpleton and said just as cheerfully as one might, "I've heard about your speed. It's quite legendary, I suppose. However, I'm faster," with that last, strangely firm statement, Seta raced forward, his gun already in his hand.  
  
Kenshin's eyes widened in surprise. 'He's fast!' He barely managed to avoid the shot that Seta fired. The young man seemed like a blur he was moving at such a great speed. Kenshin spun around, searching for Seta's figure. . . 'There!' He saw him for a moment, seemingly suspended in the air.  
  
A bullet grazed Kenshin's arm, he jumped away. . . .Where was Seta? Again, Kenshin almost felt him moving toward him. He realized then that Seta was going to kill him. There was no way that Kenshin could find the young man at the speed that he was moving. If a description of Kenshin's speed was 'god-like' then Soujiro Seta's speed surpassed a god's.  
  
But Seta slowed down. . . He stood on Yumi's side of the room watching Kenshin, still with that odd smile of his. "That's not the fastest that I can move." There was no cockiness to his statement. It was just a fact. Almost like the way someone would say, "It looks like it's going to rain. . ."  
  
Kenshin didn't want to die just standing there, helpless. . . He rushed forward, shooting once at Seta, but, it seemed, by the time he fired, Seta had already moved. Another bullet grazed Kenshin, this time on the other arm. . . Seta stopped once more, this time in front of the men.  
  
"My fastest speed. . ." he said, and had disappeared. . . Kenshin started. He strained all his senses, waiting for anything. The slightest noise of running feet, a rush of air. . . but there was nothing. And then. . . a faltering. Kenshin saw Seta, gun aimed down at him from above. Seta's face seemed to change. . . no longer a look of concentration, nor that idiotic smile. . . a flickering. . . Kenshin took the moment, and stepped aside.  
  
Seta's firing shot zinged across the floor, ricocheting off of the concrete and pinging harmlessly off into some boxes. . .  
  
"I don't understand. . ." Seta said as if he were only saying that he liked to eat chocolate or something carefree like that. "Why are you doing this?" He stood facing Kenshin, his gun pointed, but almost relaxed, in a way.  
  
"What do you mean?" Kenshin asked, almost panting.  
  
"You came here to help those two. . .the Sagara's. Why? They're weak. . .They don't deserve to live. Helping them makes you weak, too. Why are trying to help them?" Kenshin finally saw the confusion hidden in Seta's light-blue eyes. A dilemma seemed to be waging itself beneath that benign smile.  
  
"Because they /are/ weak. . .defenseless. They have no one to protect them but me," Kenshin answered, not even quite sure if that was the right answer.  
  
Seta returned, "But that doesn't make sense. . . the weak die; the strong survive. . ." he said it like he was quoting someone.  
  
Something about his statement struck Kenshin as familiar, however. Wasn't that what he believed? That he was only strong if he killed others--- if he didn't have anyone to tie him down, or anyone that others could use to get to him. That killing people who were weak made him strong. Yes, that was what he had believed. But since he'd met Sanosuke and Kaoru, those beliefs had begun to change, and he had hardly even realized it. Now he knew that it wasn't a weakness to care for others; it wasn't a weakness to want to protect. It was like Kaoru had said, "You need hope to survive, not just that gun. . .' If he didn't have hope in the people he cared about, if he didn't have hope that he could help them somehow, then living wasn't really worth it.  
  
"You're wrong," Kenshin said, and thought perhaps that he heard Sano inhale sharply. "The weak deserve to live, and no one is really strong if they don't do all they can to protect the ones they love, that they are not." There it was again, that quirk in his speech pattern.  
  
Seta's eyes widened, the light in them seemed to waver. . .almost as if. . . "What could have happened for you to see things the way you do?" Kenshin wondered. He had lost his stepfather, Hiko. . .he had been disillusioned and abandoned. Perhaps something similar had happened to Seta.  
  
Soujiro Seta seemed to smile, this time perhaps in irony. "Nothing. . .it doesn't matter. . . We'll see. . . We'll see if Mr. Shishio is right, or if you are, Mr. Himura." He raised his gun, which had lowered a bit during their interchange. "Let's finish this."  
  
Seta was a flash of light shooting at Kenshin, but something was different now. Kenshin could sense something. Where before there had been nothing, almost an absence of emotion, there was now a conflict. . .Seta battled within himself, and because of it, Kenshin now knew exactly where he was. He fired his shot. . .the boy cried out.  
  
Kenshin landed on his feet, breathing roughly. . .Seta landed on his back a ways away. Yumi gasped and ran to kneel beside him.  
  
"Soujiro!" She examined him and realized that he had only been shot in the arm. When she did, she looked up at Kenshin, surprise on her face. "Why didn't you kill him?"  
  
"I was making a point, that I was. . ." Kenshin answered, only speaking half the truth.  
  
"Kenshin. . ." he heard Sanosuke breathe from behind him. Kenshin turned to his friend, and for the first time in a while, he smiled. When Sanosuke smiled back, Kenshin felt almost as if he'd been absolved.  
  
"Mr. Himura. . ." Soujiro said, pain in his voice, but beneath it a sort of peace. "You won. . .but I. . .I need to find out why. . ." He seemed so lost, Kenshin realized.  
  
"I hope you find your answers, Seta," Kenshin said.  
  
Soujiro laughed, breathlessly. "Good luck, Mr. Himura. . .fighting Mr. Shishio. . ."  
  
Saitou's dry, grating voice interrupted Kenshin and Soujiro's odd moment. "You need to stop dallying around spouting sanctimonious drivel, Battousai. You still have to take care of Shishio."  
  
Kenshin turned to him, about to retort something satisfyingly evil, when the man they were referring to entered the room with Takeda. "No need to come find me," he said pleasantly. "I'm right here." He drew out a nasty looking black gun. . . "Are you ready to fight me, Battousai?" He came into the room, walking past an infuriated Sanosuke and the seemingly unfazed Shinomori and a somewhat irritated Saitou.  
  
Kenshin stilled, "I'm ready. . ."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
A/N: Oh, the horror! The pain! Why must I cut it off here? Why!? The answer: because it's a really good cliffie, and also about to be 1:00 am. Heh, heh. Another warning for all of you nice people: I do still have a lot of stuff that I need to do, so I might not even get started on the next chapter for a long time. But as soon as I can, I will, 'cause I love writing this story, and I love getting reviews!---Which is a really good lead in for this:  
  
Thanks to all you guys who have reviewed, and I hope I remember to mention all of you this time. I think I forgot to answer someone last time, so I'm sorry! The reply will be here now, though:  
  
BlueEyedDemon90: Thank you! And I'll try to keep updating as soon as I can.  
  
PraiseDivineMercy: Thanks very much. And thanks for the heads up. I /did/ change my summary beforehand for some reason, though. Heh heh, I don't think I really realized why until I read your review. It made me laugh. . . a lot. ^_^ But just so you know, you were right, cause others told me the same thing. Also, hope I explained enough about why Kenshin decided not to kill them in this chap.  
  
HALF_BREED"_FOX( ): Thanks! I will try!  
  
wackoramaco87: Thank you. ^_-_^ heh heh, yes, I hope so, jst kidding, it will. . .  
  
Alex: Thank you! You're very nice. :)  
  
soujiro sweet: thanks a bunch for reviewing even after all this time. :) And I'll try to post this, and the next chp, as soon as I can.  
  
baseballfreak202: hey I'm glad you liked the story, and I hope you enjoyed Sano's further stupidity in this chapter and all the chapters to come. ^_^  
  
Author Note, P.S.: Ah sorry for blathering so much, I just needed to add that I haven't even started on the next chapter, so everyone please just hang in there. There's no telling when I'll be done with it cause of all this school and stuff... So thanks for reading! BlueLiath. 


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: This is a disclaimer; it disclaims. Enough said.  
  
"His Only Weakness" Chapter 11  
  
"Once upon a time. . .," Kaoru read. She tried to ignore Yahiko's badly muffled snickers.  
  
Okina was also trying not to laugh, so much so that his face was turning red. . . "There was a man who had no children. . ." Megumi was smirking with amusement. . . "His name was Geppetto. Geppetto was a puppet maker. . ." Hiko rolled his eyes, and Kaoru continued reading from the old storybook.  
  
A groan, originating from the floor, drew her attention away from the tale. Kaoru looked down at the tied and gagged blond-haired man and questioned, "Are you paying attention, Cho?" He gave a pathetic whimper, and Kaoru went back to the story of /Pinocchio/.  
  
Yahiko, unable to contain his laughter any further, finally let out a guffaw. Misao and Okina soon joined in.  
  
"Funny," Megumi said. "I never pictured you as the sadistic type, Raccoon."  
  
"Ah, well," Kaoru said, shrugging and smiling softly. "When the occasion calls for it. . ." She grinned wickedly and returned to her "story time."  
  
"Oooh." Misao shuddered. "She's scary. . ."  
  
"I take it back," Yahiko said. "If their baby ends up looking like Kaoru, it'll be scary enough."  
  
Megumi gave a startled laugh, and Kaoru threw the storybook at Yahiko's head. He didn't duck in time and ended up with a big goose-egg. Misao began to laugh even harder than before.  
  
"Serves you right, stupid son," Hiko said with dry humor.  
  
Yahiko groaned and rubbed his head. "Just wait till Kenshin gets home. He's going to kick both your butts for me!"  
  
"Oh, my," Megumi said. "Little Yahiko, are you sure that book didn't cause brain damage?"  
  
Yahiko glared at her then mumbled, "He's my big brother. He'd stand up for me; I know he would. . ." He glared down at the floor, sullenly.  
  
Everyone was suddenly quiet. For Kaoru, the simple statement of trust touched a part of her heart that was very much vulnerable, at the moment. First of all, because her own big brother was out there in who knew what condition. . . And there was a chance that he might not return. Second, because she thought she might be falling in love with Kenshin, and it was possible he might not return, either. Everyone else just felt rather crappy for Yahiko, because it was possible that Kenshin /wouldn't/ come back, and Yahiko had just found out that he even /had/ an older brother, even if Kenshin wasn't really related to him.  
  
"I'm sorry, Yahiko. . ." Kaoru said quietly.  
  
"Forget about it," he mumbled. But when he looked up at her, his lip twitched with a smile.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"I'm ready," Kenshin said firmly. He stepped into the middle of the room, and Shishio moved forward. "Sano, please help Miss Yumi carry Seta out of here," Kenshin requested, never taking his eyes from Shishio.  
  
The spiky haired youth moved past Kenshin and knelt to pick up Soujiro Seta. Yumi scowled at him, but he ignored her look and asked, "Where do you want me to put him?"  
  
"This way," she said, standing with him then proceeding toward the door. Sanosuke followed her, and she led him out of the room and to the elevator. They went up a few floors, and then got out.  
  
"Why are you with someone as crazy as that?" Sanosuke asked her, out of the blue. He followed her down some halls. . .  
  
Yumi returned, snappishly, "You wouldn't understand."  
  
"Try me," Sanosuke retorted.  
  
Yumi smirked with sarcasm, but answered, "Mr. Shishio helped me out whenever I didn't have anyone else. I'll be forever grateful to him." Her voice had taken on a dreamy sort of quality that Sanosuke associated with the way girl's talked about their latest crushes.  
  
He scowled. "So you're in love with him just 'cause he did you a good turn. Don't you know it's not healthy to be so blindly loyal?"  
  
"And what do you know about it?" Yumi retorted, heatedly. She stopped at a door and opened it, and Sanosuke followed her in. . .  
  
Now that he thought of it, he actually /did/ know something about being so loyal that it made you do stupid things out of a want to return the favor to the person you were indebted to. "Do you know why I came here, Yumi?" he asked. "It was because I wanted to avenge my father's death. Sure, I came with the pretense of ending this fugitive thing with me and Kaoru, but underneath that, all I wanted to do was punish someone for making me have to live without my dad for the rest of my life."  
  
Yumi glanced at him with a surprised look on her face, but quickly hid it and turned away. She pointed toward a bed in the corner of the room. "Put him there."  
  
As Sano laid the young man on the cot, Yumi went over to a phone sitting on a table. She picked it up and dialed a number. "Hello? This is Yumi, I need you to come down and take Soujiro to a hospital. Thank you." She hung up the phone and turned to Sanosuke, who was watching her.  
  
"I'm going to go back up there with Mr. Shishio. Are you coming?" She asked in a cool tone.  
  
Sanosuke scowled. "Might as well. . ."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Shishio smiled and said, "You know, I think that you're weak, Himura."  
  
"I'm not sure I see what you mean, that I do not," Kenshin answered, coolly.  
  
Shishio said, "I don't believe that you have any intention of killing me. . .Am I correct?"  
  
When Kenshin didn't reply, he continued, "Yes. I think you're a reformed man. What was it? Did sleeping with the Sagara girl change your mind about being an assassin, or did you just start feeling guilty for all those people you've murdered?"  
  
"Why should I explain it to you, Shishio? You are too corrupted to understand something as innocent as a vow not kill," Kenshin said.  
  
"Innocent, is it?" Shishio mocked. "You can admit that you've killed and still claim to be innocent?" He laughed harshly. "You're hands are covered in blood, Himura. You've just gotten so used to seeing them like that that you've forgotten."  
  
Kenshin said, "You're the one who has grown used to your sins. At least I've realized my wrongs. . .You, however, seem to refuse to feel any remorse for them."  
  
"You're right, and it's because I don't think I'm wrong. This world is ruled by the strong. Anyone who isn't strong, doesn't deserve to live, and all this talk of murder being a sin. . .well, my philosophy is 'survival of the fittest,' so how can there be any sin in that?"  
  
"You're deluded," Kenshin said half under his breath. "Fight me, Shishio. I'm tired of conversing with the devil."  
  
"Alright then, Himura, go ahead and attack me," He gave a frightening half-smile. "We'll see who's right. . ."  
  
Kenshin charged forward. He fired his gun, but Shishio dodged. Kenshin turned, firing again. . .a moment later, his left shoulder was ablaze with fire. Shishio had shot him. . .For a second, Kenshin thought he would pass out, but he managed to hang onto consciousness. However, his wound had slowed him down. . .  
  
"Kenshin!" Someone shouted in horror, and he realized that Sanosuke must have just returned.  
  
He aimed for Shishio with a shaking hand. . . His vision blurred. . .he fired the shot, but Shishio had already moved. He fired again when he saw a flash of movement, but it missed once more.  
  
"Give up, Himura. It's a lost cause," Shishio taunted from behind him. Kenshin whirled around to see the man pointing his black as sin gun at him.  
  
"I won't give up, and it's not a lost cause," Kenshin panted. He aimed his gun and shot. . .  
  
Shishio moved, but the sound of the bullet hitting one of the boxes in the warehouse followed. Suddenly there was a flare up of light from that quarter of the room. 'A fire,' Kenshin realized. Distracted by it, he almost didn't move in time when Shishio shot at him. This time a bullet had grazed him on his other arm.  
  
Shishio laughed, but Kenshin was watching as the fire began to spread from box to box. . . One of the bullets must have caused friction with something flammable. . .  
  
"Kenshin!" Sanosuke warned, "We have to get out of here!" Sano was right---pretty soon, the whole room would be ablaze. However, Kenshin had some business with Shishio to finish. But maybe the fire would provide Kenshin with an opportunity. . . If only he could keep Shishio busy long enough.  
  
Kenshin fired another shot, but once again it missed. A moment later, Shishio was standing only a few feet away from him. Kenshin heard the shot before he felt the pain in his chest. . . One moment he thought that he might have a chance, and the next everything was going black.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"Kenshin!" Sanosuke called, but his friend had already fallen to the ground. Sano didn't even have the emotion left to feel angry at Shishio; all he wanted to do was kill the man. . .  
  
Without thinking about what he was doing, about the near futility of his action, Sanosuke rushed at Shishio with his fist raised. "How dare you!" he yelled as he stormed forward. Shishio was fast, he stepped aside and then---  
  
Sanosuke's right arm flared with pain, and he realized that he'd been shot. Stunned, he dropped to the ground. "You won't get away with this," he heard Saitou's cool voice say. He felt the growing heat of the fire and wondered if they would be able to get out of there in time, or if it even mattered now since one or more of them might be dead in a few moments. . .  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Saitou drew out his glock and aimed it at Shishio. Somehow the man managed to look like he was falling into some battle stance of old, Aoshi contemplated. That was just how old-fashioned Hajime Saitou was, he decided. Aoshi wondered if there was any chance of Saitou beating Shishio. Saitou had his skills after all, but, so far, Shishio had proved himself to be a superior fighter. Maybe his speed wasn't legendary like Kenshin's or that boy's; however, his strength and ability were definitely high on the scale.  
  
Saitou shot first, but Shishio moved in time and fired soon after. . . Saitou only lasted a few minutes before Shishio had wounded him in both legs. . . The old cop fell to the ground unconscious. Aoshi didn't waste any time pulling out his two revolvers.  
  
"Shishio, there's still one man left. Fight me!" He challenged and ran toward the man, shooting as he came. For a moment, the heat waves and the fire set behind Shishio gave Aoshi the impression that he was looking upon the Devil. But that didn't make him lose his nerve one bit.  
  
The bullets from Aoshi's revolver plunked into Shishio's chest and tore away the fabric of his expensive suit. He was thrown backward onto the ground, and, for a moment, Aoshi thought that he had put an end to the man. But a minute passed, and Shishio rose from the ground grinning like a goblin.  
  
He tore away the rest of his shirt with one hand to reveal the bullet- proof vest that he wore beneath. "Did you think that I wouldn't be prepared for even a bullet in the back?" He questioned superiorly.  
  
Aoshi, undaunted, attacked the mad-man again. "No!" He heard someone shout, and recognized the voice as Kenshin's. Astonished, both Shishio and Aoshi looked toward the man they thought had been on the verge of death.  
  
Kenshin stood there, gun aimed directly at Shishio, a look of such determination on his face that Aoshi could almost swear that there was an aura of power whipping like wind about his small frame. How could he even be conscious? Aoshi wondered. He'd been shot more than once, and there was blood soaking the right side of his t-shirt. He must be suffering from immense blood loss. There was just no way. . . why was he so determined to fight with Shishio?  
  
"Kenshin. . ." Sanosuke said, weakly, from his position on the concrete floor. His voice had a note of awe in it, and his brown eyes were wide with amazement.  
  
"I'm not finished fighting yet," Kenshin said, his voice so different from any way that Aoshi had heard it so far that it was slightly disturbing. Aoshi stepped away from Shishio, and Shishio moved toward Kenshin.  
  
"Fine, Himura. I don't know how you managed to get up again, but I'm interested to see how it will turn out this time."  
  
Kenshin's reply was a firing shot. . .Both fighters quickly became only blurs of movement to Aoshi's eyes. All he could hear was the pling-ing of bullets and the roaring sound of growing flames. It reminded him that they needed to get out of there before they were burned down with the warehouse.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Kenshin somehow found the strength to rise again. He could do this; he had to---for Kaoru and Sanosuke's sakes. It looked like the odds were against him, but then Shishio made the mistake of becoming too cocky. One moment, he had the upper hand, and the next Kenshin had shot him in the arm. Yumi cried out and rushed toward him. Shishio only pushed her out of the way as he rose to shoot at Kenshin again. But despite his obviously low opinion of her, Yumi still flung herself onto Shishio when she saw that Kenshin's bullet would hit him.  
  
Kenshin's eyes widened when he realized that he had shot her. He hadn't meant to. . . Shishio only seemed surprised as he held Yumi's body up for a moment, long enough for her to smile at him and touch his face before she breathed out a last sigh. Shishio had been right, though: Kenshin had never meant to kill him.  
  
"Your empire is burning to the ground, Shishio," Saitou's voice floated to them over their astonishment and the roar of the flames.  
  
Shishio looked around himself at the burning boxes, clutching his bleeding arm. His eyes took on a strange gleam before widening. "The cocaine. . ." he looked about him as if searching for someone and it was then that Kenshin realized that Konryu Takeda had disappeared. The coward must have run away when he realized that Shishio was ruined financially.  
  
"You'll pay for this, Himura," Shishio said, vengefully, as he prepared to fire his gun at Kenshin.  
  
"No," Kenshin replied. "You'll be the one to pay. . ." Just then, Kenshin leapt away as a burning timber fell from above. The place was falling apart. . . The timber landed between him and Shishio, effectively separating the group from him, also.  
  
"Kenshin," came Sanosuke's weakened voice from off to his left and behind him. "Let's get out of here."  
  
Kenshin turned to see his friend standing beside Saitou, who was being supported by Shinomori. He nodded and limped forward. "Alright. . ." Sanosuke put an arm around Kenshin's shoulders to hold him up.  
  
"Thanks, Kenshin. . ." was the last thing Kenshin heard as he lost consciousness.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Author's note:  
  
Okay, I admit it: I'm a big meanie head. All I can say is: it's the end of the chapter so try to accept it even if you hate it. At first I was like: maybe I should add a little something, but then I realized that a lot had already happened. So try to think of it like this: you get more chapters because this one is shorter. Doesn't that make you just want to jump for joy? Okay, okay, I'm still a meanie. So what? It's hard writing this stuff! Do you know how many words there are for rushing at someone? Not very many! Okay, okay, I'm still a meanie---I give up. Blueliath. --_^  
  
Replies to reviewer-ees:  
  
soujiro sweet: that's okay, thank you lots. :) heheh, the battousai baby is one of my favorite parts.  
  
Brittanie Love: Thank you very much! I hope you think so about the rest of it too.  
  
alex(): thank you! I'll keep trying to write it and post it as fast as possible.  
  
baseballfreak202: Thank you for the review and the compliment! It makes me laugh every time I read it. Heheheh. . .  
  
Dragons Maiden: Thank you! Isn't Soujiro the cutest? That's why I couldn't kill him. :) Heeheh  
  
half-breed-demon-fox: Thank you very much, I will try to continue it very quickly and very often. :)  
  
The Nonesuch: Thank you. :) I will try, thank you again.  
  
aphrodite24goddess: heheh, yeah I know, and thank you for the review. I'll try to be very speedy, I promise. :)  
  
Well, thanks everyone again! I love getting reviews, and I think you guys are the most original writers! Who else could think up such funny and inventive reviews as you? Well, gotta go, bye! BlueLiath. 


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I don't own Rurouni Kenshin. It would be a very scary alternate universe if I did.

* * *

"His Only Weakness" Chapter 12  
  
Sanosuke lifted his suddenly limp friend into his arms and glanced behind him at the raging inferno. "Are we just going to leave him in there?" he asked, his voice low and drained.  
  
Aoshi glanced back at the burning timber; it was an effort for him since he was supporting most of Saitou's weight. "We can't get past that point without getting burned up along with him. I'll call the fire department." He pulled a cell phone from his pocket and did as he said.  
  
They made their way out of the room and down the hall. Once they were in the elevator, Saitou leaned up against the wall to give Aoshi a rest and snapped at Sano, "Idiot! Tie something around Himura's wounds before he bleeds to death. . ."  
  
Sano, too surprised to retort, glanced down at his friend and saw that the blood was still spreading over his chest and left shoulder. Aoshi hung up his phone and for the first time, Sano heard him snap at someone.  
  
"While you're bothering to point out the need to attend to Himura's injuries, you might have noticed that Sanosuke's right arm is covered in blood."  
  
Saitou made a face and answered, "Both my legs are shot, but you don't hear /me/ whining about it."  
  
Aoshi shrugged and told Sanosuke, "Put him on the ground, I'll take care of his wounds." He glanced back at Saitou as Sanosuke placed Kenshin gently on the floor of the elevator. "Take care of yourself and Sanosuke."  
  
Saitou made a noise, but complied, tearing a piece of cloth from his shirttail. "Come here, you rooster head. Does it look like I can move?"  
  
Sano started to say something but changed his mind. He was just too tired to argue right then. Saitou roughly wrapped the torn cloth around Sanosuke's arm, while Aoshi attended to Kenshin. After Saitou was done with him, Sano offered, "I can bandage your legs. . ."  
  
However, Saitou pushed him away, snapping, "Just because you can doesn't mean I want you to."  
  
Sano bristled, but went and lifted Kenshin into his arms again, and leaned against the wall. The elevator stopped only a moment later and they got off. . . There was an alarm ringing and people running hysterically about, trying to find out what was going on. All in all, it was pretty much in a state of chaos, which in Sano's mind, was actually a good thing. After all, they didn't want anyone noticing them.

* * *

Everyone grouped behind Seijuro Hiko as he made to open the front door. Kaoru held her breath and leaned forward precariously, hoping with a hammering heart that it was her brother and Kenshin. Hiko pulled the door open slowly and stepped back. Kaoru first saw the expression on Hiko's face, a mixture of understated horror and relief. Next she glanced quickly toward the entrance, hearing at the same time the hushed gasps of Misao and Megumi.  
  
That was when she saw all the blood, and for a moment her hammering heart failed altogether. But then it came to her that Kenshin was still alive, even though he was unconscious and being carried by Sanosuke. The blood was all over them both, mostly on Kenshin's chest and on Sanosuke's arm. It soaked into obviously hastily made bandages.  
  
The group moved aside for the others, and they all slowly began progressing toward the living room. Aoshi and Saitou came after Sano, and Kaoru noticed that Aoshi was supporting his nearly crippled future father- in-law, but he had no apparent injuries.  
  
"You're okay. . ." Kaoru found herself saying to Sano, inanely, in her relief. Sano offered her a wan smile and laid Kenshin on the couch. "I- is he going to be alright?" Kaoru asked.  
  
"Megumi," Sanosuke said even as Aoshi helped Saitou over to an arm chair. "He needs help. . ." A second later, he'd sunk to his knees beside the couch.  
  
"Sano!" Kaoru exclaimed. He must have lost a lot of blood. . . Suddenly Kaoru felt slightly queasy. "Are you okay?"  
  
"Stupid rooster-head!" Megumi berated, stepping forward and taking charge. "Go sit over there," she commanded. "Kaoru, Misao, go boil some hot water and get my doctors bag." She paused then asked, "Why didn't you take them straight to the hospital?"  
  
"We can't. None of what we've been up to lately would be smiled upon by the police. I need to sort things out before we can even go to them," Aoshi answered, briefly. "We shouldn't waste any more time though. You know that. Kenshin needs that bullet removed as soon as possible to stop any more internal bleeding. Can you do it, Miss Takani?"  
  
"That's 'Doctor Takani,' and yes, I can," Megumi said, firmly. She turned to her gaping friends. "Well, what are you waiting for, girls? Mr. Shinomori, help me clear off the table in the kitchen. . ."  
  
A second later, everyone snapped to it. Some grueling, nerve-wracking hours passed while Megumi was in the kitchen with her impromptu nurses, Aoshi and Misao. Meanwhile, Okina had done as much as he could to patch up Saitou and Sanosuke, which actually meant that he took a few bullets out, sewed up the wounds, and then bandaged them up. Kaoru had tried not to watch too closely while he'd been doing it. She wondered where he'd learned to take care of bullet wounds. But when she thought about it, she realized that Aoshi probably didn't exactly live a /safe/ life.

* * *

Finally, Megumi finished mending Kenshin, and Hiko carried him upstairs. Sanosuke was already lying on the mattress on the floor, so Hiko laid him on the bed. Kaoru noticed how gentle he seemed with Kenshin, despite all the "stupid foster-sons" that he insulted him with. He gave Kenshin a long look before walking past her and his son, who stood beside Kaoru in the doorway. Yahiko, who was hanging a little behind her and peering into the room almost shyly, had to step aside as his father left.  
  
"Is he going to be alright?" Sano questioned from the floor, sitting up a bit. He looked toward her, and noticed Yahiko.  
  
"Yeah, Megumi said he'd be fine," Kaoru answered with a nod. To her ears, her voice sounded tired and strange. She entered the room and dropped down onto the mattress next to her brother. "How's your arm?"  
  
Sano smiled at her with hazy eyes. "Pretty good actually. . . Okina gave me some pain killers."  
  
Kaoru blinked then laughed. Sano asked her, "Who's the kid?"  
  
Kaoru looked up and realized that Yahiko was still lingering near the door looking uncertain. "Yahiko, Kenshin's brother."  
  
"Hey kid," Sano called, and Yahiko seemed startled. "Come sit down--- you look like an accident waiting to happen, standing in the middle of a doorway like that."  
  
Yahiko blinked a few times, frowned, and then exclaimed, "What-d'-you know about it, Jerk!"  
  
"You know," Sano retorted, calmly, "You don't look much like your big- brother."  
  
"He was adopted, you know-it-all rooster!" Yahiko shouted, but Sano had successfully managed to get him to come into the room. He was nearly on top of Sano, shaking his fist vehemently at him; his dark-brown eyes squinted to angry glares.  
  
"Calm down, Yahiko," Kaoru said and yanked him onto the mattress by his shirttail. He made an "oomph" noise then blinked at them in stunned silence.  
  
Kaoru chuckled and said to Sanosuke, "Seijuro Hiko, the man who just brought Kenshin in here, is Yahiko's father. A long time ago, he was a police officer who found Kenshin after his parents had been murdered. He took Kenshin in, and Kenshin lived with him as his son until one day when Hiko's enemies came and attacked them. Kenshin was hurt with an injury to his head and Hiko was also injured. He escaped, leaving Kenshin behind, because he thought that Kenshin had been killed."  
  
Sano's eyes were thoughtful and somewhat sad. "Sounds kind of familiar. . ." he murmured, quietly.  
  
Kaoru asked, "You mean cause of Dad?" Sanosuke nodded in reply.  
  
"What about your dad?" Yahiko wondered, managing to sound almost suspicious.  
  
"He was killed by one of his enemies. . ." Kaoru said, her eyes tearing up a bit. She'd thought that she was past the crying stage, but maybe all of this had brought the feeling back fresh.  
  
"Oh. . ." Yahiko said, staring at the mattress hard. "Both my parents are still alive. . ."  
  
Sano suddenly reached out and grasped Yahiko's shoulder. He smiled at him affectionately. "That's good, Yahiko---don't feel sorry for us. We do alright."  
  
Yahiko looked up with a grin. "Could have fooled me. . ."  
  
Sano released Yahiko's shoulder, his eyes drooping a bit in annoyance. "Is it just me, Missy, or did the little brat just insult me somehow."  
  
Kaoru giggled. "I'm pretty sure he did."  
  
"You better be glad my arm is in a sling, you little troublemaker," Sanosuke warned. "If I wasn't so loopy and injured, I'd pound you into the ground."  
  
"My point exactly," Yahiko retorted with a wide, mischievous grin.  
  
"Why you little. . ." Sanosuke began to lung for Yahiko, but Kaoru held him back with a restraining arm. After a moment, he calmed down and sat there glaring daggers at the scoffing boy.  
  
"Come on, Yahiko," Kaoru said lightly, "Let's leave Sano alone so he can rest." She rose, and Yahiko followed her. "'Night, Sano," she called, noticing that Yahiko was sticking his tongue out at Sanosuke as a parting remark. She tried to repress her smile as Sanosuke said, "'Night Kaoru. 'Night you little pipsqueak," he finished.  
  
Kaoru laughed and dragged an irate Yahiko out of the room. . . Maybe she would get some rest too. . .She definitely needed it.

* * *

A day later, Kenshin still hadn't awakened yet. Megumi said that it was okay---his body was just healing itself. Kaoru decided to believe her and tried pushing the worry to the back of her thoughts. But there were other things bothering her about Kenshin other than his coma. She still wasn't sure of her feelings for him. And after Sano telling her about what had happened and how Kenshin had let that young man, Soujirou Seta, live, she was even more unsure of his feelings for her.  
  
"Hey Kaoru," Misao began, and Kaoru knew that trouble was not far behind those words. "Do you want to go with me to Mr. Aoshi's Detective Agency? He's working all that stuff out today, and Dad is really grumpy anyway, so I really don't want to be around him, but Mr. Aoshi doesn't want me to bother him, so he'd rather I bring someone along to keep me out of his hair—which is gorgeous, by the way. Have you noticed?—So do you want to come, Kaoru?" She finished with a brilliant grin, surpassing any grin of Misao's that Kaoru had seen so far. It made her want to cringe and run away screaming, 'Agh! The light, the light! It burns!'  
  
"Uhm, are you sure it's okay with Mr. Shinomori?" Kaoru wondered, grasping for an out clause.  
  
"Of course it's alright! I actually think he wants you there! After all, it's your life that he's trying to fix," Misao answered, brightly.  
  
"Oh, yeah," Kaoru answered, weakly. "I guess I'll come then." She laughed nervously, like someone who knows that the joke is that they're about to die.  
  
They went downstairs and found Sano and Megumi squabbling together in the living room about Sano's almost dying. . ./What/ were they arguing about, again? Kaoru and Misao stopped in their tracks and gaped.  
  
"You could have died!" Megumi shouted at Sano. Their noses were about an inch apart from each other, and they were leaning over the coffee table and a deck of scattered cards.  
  
"But I didn't!" Sano retorted, heatedly. "And why the heck do you care anyway?"  
  
"Your arm is bleeding again, you idiot!" Megumi hollered, and Kaoru thought she saw a gleam in her almond eyes that looked suspiciously like tears. "Let me re-bandage it!"  
  
"No, you evil fox-doctor! You'll probably try to cut off my circulation, or something, and then my arm will get gangrene, and you'll want to cut it off without any anesthetic!" Sanosuke yelled. "And then you probably won't sew it up again, and I'll bleed to death, anyway!"  
  
"That's not true!" Megumi screamed. "How could you have been so reckless?"  
  
"I was trying to end this messed up vacation me and Kaoru were having!" Sano replied. "Besides, I still don't see why it matters to you!"  
  
"You're an idiot, Sanosuke," Megumi said coldly. "Didn't you stop to think how Kaoru would have felt if you had died? Or everyone else, for that matter?"  
  
"Of course I did. . .Well," Sanosuke admitted, "After Kenshin asked me the same question, I did." He blinked. "What do you mean, 'everyone else'?" he asked, defensively.  
  
Megumi drew in a shaky breath. "Nothing. I didn't mean anything by it, you stupid rooster head." She looked away toward the coffee table.  
  
Sano reached out with his good arm to touch one of her hands, which were placed on the table. Megumi's head came up quickly at his touch. "Did you mean you would have cared?"  
  
Kaoru held her breath as she waited for Megumi's answer. It came, "Of course that's what I meant. . ." Her voice was soft and husky with emotion.  
  
Sano breathed in sharply. "Do you /like/ me, Megumi?"  
  
"No, stupid rooster head," Megumi retorted. For a moment, Sanosuke stiffened, but then Megumi continued, "I /love/ you."  
  
Sano's hand tightened convulsively around hers. "I. . .I love you too, Megumi," he said, his voice almost a whisper.  
  
Kaoru and Misao's eyes bugged out, and they grabbed each other and tried to hold back their squeals. But Sanosuke wasn't finished talking yet. . .  
  
"Will you marry me, Fox-doctor?" He asked with a crooked grin, but the girls could tell how scared he was by the way his eyes shimmered.  
  
Megumi gasped. "Don't play around with me, Rooster," she said sternly.  
  
Sanosuke shook his head. "I'm not. I wouldn't. . . I guess--I guess it took all this crap to finally realize it, but I know I do, Megumi. So, will you?"  
  
Megumi blinked at him with wide eyes, and the girls tightened their grips until they were nearly choking each other. "Oh. . ." she breathed, as if she couldn't believe it. "You do know I'm way older than you, don't you?" She questioned only a moment later, and Kaoru and Misao fell to the ground in a melted puddle of angst. 'What is she doing?' Kaoru wondered.  
  
"I know," Sano replied with a cocky smile.  
  
"And it won't bother you? Especially when people say I could be old enough to be your mother?" Megumi questioned.  
  
Sano laughed. "You aren't old, Megumi. We were children together, remember?"  
  
Megumi smiled, then a second later she said, "Okay."  
  
Sano grinned and leaned over and was about to kiss her when the girls rushed the newly engaged couple.  
  
"I can't believe it!" "Ugh!" "Kaoru!" "Misao, what are you doing? Get off of me!" "Were you standing there the whole time?" "Get off of me!" "Yes, oh, Sano, I'm so glad. I always knew you and Megumi had a secret thing for each other!" "I said, 'Get off'!"  
  
After a bit, Misao stopped strangling Megumi with her well-meant hug, and things quieted down a bit. "What's happening in here?" came Aoshi's voice from above them.  
  
The group looked up to see him standing, holding onto the arm of Cho, who was restrained and gagged. Yahiko and Hiko stood together beside Aoshi with strangely identical looks of perplexity on their face.  
  
"Sano and Megumi got engaged!" Misao exclaimed. Aoshi blinked then said, "Are you ready to go, Misao? Kaoru?" as if he couldn't come up with a good enough reply.  
  
"Oh, no!" Yahiko said, unlike Aoshi, not at a loss for words. "What kind of hybrid is going to come out of a fox and a rooster? It'll be way worse than Kaoru and Kenshin's baby!" Yahiko was lucky that the siblings were in such a good mood; otherwise he would've been dead meat.  
  
A moment later, the girls followed Aoshi out the door. . .

* * *

At Aoshi's office, they met the other detectives that worked for him, Hyottoko, Shikijo, Hanya, and Beshimi. To say the least, they were very odd men, especially Hanya, who was very tall and wore a thickly striped shirt underneath a vest. But they all seemed to know what they were doing, and Kaoru felt as if everything would turn out okay when she saw the efficiency with which they worked.  
  
Toward the afternoon, the police finally came by and took Cho away. Kaoru felt surprised that they hadn't wanted to speak to her, but she guessed that was what Misao had meant when she'd said that Aoshi was "working all that stuff out."  
  
"Mr. Shinomori," Kaoru began. "I thought that Sano and I would have to speak with the police. . ."  
  
He looked up from the papers on his desk and asked, "Are you hungry, Kaoru?"  
  
"I am!" Misao piped up from where she was lounging on the couch, with her feet up on one of the arms.  
  
Aoshi glanced towards her, and Kaoru saw a small smile pass over his face like a shadow. "I'll call for pizza," he said and picked up the phone off the hook and dialed. 'Must have ordered lots of times to know the number by heart,' Kaoru thought, and waited for Aoshi to finish ordering.  
  
"What would you like on your pizza, Kaoru?" he questioned.  
  
"Just whatever. . . Pepperoni, I guess," Kaoru answered then dropped back into the arm chair near Misao's couch.  
  
"Misao?" Aoshi asked, and she answered, "Pepperoni and mushroom, oh, and pineapple and bacon!" Aoshi ordered it without a thought, and Kaoru was surprised that he could take such a request without even making a face. Pineapple and bacon. . . 'Oh, well, it probably tastes good. . .' Kaoru speculated.  
  
They were already eating the pizza when Aoshi finally answered her questions. "You don't need to worry about the police, or any assassinations, for that matter. Makoto Shishio is out of the picture, and now his kingdom has scattered. I explained who Cho was to the police without involving you or Sanosuke."  
  
Sano had told Kaoru what had happened to Makoto Shishio. The warehouse had begun to burn down, and a timber had fallen between Shishio and Kenshin while they were fighting for the second time. The men had realized that they needed to get out of the warehouse as quickly as they could. They were leaving when Kenshin had passed out. After that, Aoshi had called the fire department anonymously, and they had left.  
  
"Do you think Shishio survived?" Kaoru questioned, nervously. She wasn't sure if she wanted to hear the answer. Maybe the man had wanted her dead, but the feeling wasn't reciprocated. Being safe from him would have been enough.  
  
"I don't know, but I'll be checking up on it later," Aoshi answered. "Right now, making sure that your lives are returned to normal is my first priority."  
  
Kaoru sighed, feeling reassured by his calm, logical voice. However, she wasn't sure if her life would ever be returned to normal. Her brother had nearly died, and their lives had been under a cloud of danger. The feeling of powerlessness from being hunted and not being able to fight back still haunted her and made her think that she couldn't ever go back to feeling safe again. And that thought wasn't very reassuring at all.

* * *

Author's Note: Okay, I think this is the end of the chapter...I'm going to start the next chapter to see, though. So you might be getting this a/n as an ending and you might not. :) Hope you enjoyed this chp, Blueliath.  
  
Reviewer Response:  
  
Brittanie Love: Thank you. That's nice to hear 'cause I have a hard time imagining battles.  
  
alex: I sure will, thank you much.  
  
aphrodite24goddess: heh, I have to admit, I was taking some of the ideas frm the anime and changing them jst a bit to keep them interesting. Hopefully I won't get into a bad mood and kill any of the characters off. (js kiddin-I wouldn't do that) thanks for the review.  
  
Dragons Maiden: hmmm... tell Sou 'you're welcome. . .' (makes a confused face) I must hv said something I'm forgetting now...oh well, thanks for the review!   
  
kik-ting: first, thanks for the review. second, no swords-just guns(personally I like the swords better, but it kinda didn't got with this story. Sigh), third, I'm not sure myself. Fourth, I'll try to update as soon as possible. But keep in mind that I'm a fickle, fickle writer. (evil grin) But I promise I won't stop writing altogether.  
  
Thanks again, everybody! Blueliath. 


	13. Chapter 13

His Only Weakness

Chapter 13

About half a week later. . .

Kenshin opened his eyes. The first thing he remembered was the sensation of morning light piercing too sensitive eyes, so he remembered pretty quickly how to shield them. The next thing that came to him was the memory of a pair of dark-blue eyes gazing earnestly at him. . . Kaoru.

Kenshin sat up in bed and looked around the room quickly. 'Kaoru. . .What happened? Where is Kaoru? Is she okay?' he wondered to himself, almost frantic. That was when he remembered the fight with Makoto Shishio. 'It's over. He's probably dead now, and Kaoru is safe.' At the thought, his heart began to slow down gradually. 'But where is she?'

Kenshin pulled off the covers and rose to his feet. At first, he was a bit unsteady and lightheaded. But, after a moment, it passed and he left the room and headed downstairs. He made his way to the living room, where he found only a dark and long-haired man sitting on the sofa speaking to another, older white-haired man with a goatee. At that point, he recalled that his once foster-father had come to the house where they had been reunited. It hadn't been much of a reunion. But then what could one expect from a father who thought his son was dead, and a son who didn't even remember his father?

"Kenshin," Hiko said and stood to his feet. The other man, Okina, leaned forward in his seat as if watching a show.

"Hello. . ." Kenshin shifted awkwardly. What could he say to this man who he didn't even know anymore?

"Well," Hiko said, sounding abrupt all of a sudden. "You're probably hungry after sleeping for three days."

"Three days!" Kenshin couldn't quite grasp that he'd been asleep for so long.

Hiko raised a brow and answered, "That's right, stupid foster-son, you were shot, remember?" He made a face. "Then again, maybe you don't. You haven't lost your memory again, have you?"

Kenshin ignored the somewhat insulting comment and asked, "Where are Kaoru and the rest?"

"Well, the raccoon girl and her annoying rooster-head brother have been coming over here to check on you everyday after they get out of classes. They're attending college, you see." Hiko added, "Which you should probably be doing, seeing as you /quit/ school in exchange for a life of /crime/."

Kenshin sweat dropped and eye-drooped all at once. "There /were/ extenuating circumstances. . ." he grumbled half under his breath.

"No excuses, stupid foster-son. . ."

Kenshin said in between, "I lost my memory. . ."

Hiko answered superiorly, "There are no excuses. . ." Kenshin sweat-dropped again and let out a heavy sigh. 'So much for an understanding father-figure. . .' he thought with chagrine. "How is everybody?"

"Fine, despite all the bullet wounds," Hiko commented. "It's really quite amazing how you all managed to survive. . . Especially since going up against a crime lord and his posse was an extremely dimwitted thing to do."

'He just /has/ to add the insults, doesn't he,' Kenshin thought, finally getting a bit fed-up. "We didn't have much of a choice. It was either that or let Kaoru and Sanosuke live the rest of their lives as fugitives." He came across as sounding dry and snappish.

Hiko crossed his hands over his chest and raised a brow. "You really are a stubborn, hard-headed dolt, aren't you, Kenshin?"

Kenshin glared. . . Meanwhile, Okina's head had been swiveling back and forth as if he were watching a competition. As the two continued to stand there silently staring each other down, Okina's tension mounted and he jumped to his feet and egged them on, "Have a fight already!"

Kenshin glanced toward the old man, his eyes went wide with surprise, and he exclaimed, "Oro?"

Hiko said, "Okina, if you don't mind. . .get the heck out of here!" The old man gaped and skedaddled out of the room super quickly. However, Kenshin had the feeling that he was still spying on them from the other room.

"Wait a moment," Hiko said seeming to have realized something. "You just said 'oro.'" His eyes narrowed and he took a step closer to Kenshin, squinting at his face as if he was searching for something on a map.

Kenshin blinked and questioned, "What are you doing?"

"You still have the same gold eyes, but just now I swear you sounded just like your old self," Hiko said, not backing away in the least.

Kenshin was becoming uncomfortable. "Could you stop staring. . .?"

Hiko came to himself and backed away, scowling and muttering something unintelligible. Kenshin decided that he'd lost it and asked, "So has Kaoru already been here today?"

"No, any second now, I'm sure." Hiko dropped down cross-legged onto the couch. "I'm taking you to a doctor. . ." he said out of nowhere.

Kenshin decided an 'oro' would be an understatement and decided to say instead, "I thought I was fine. . .Ms. Takani took care of me didn't she?"

"Yes, stupid foster-son, but that's not what I meant. You need your head examined," Hiko retorted.

/Now/ Kenshin 'oro'd. "What do you mean? I don't need my head shrunk; it's perfectly normal."

"Hah! Your /head/ has disturbingly red hair and glowing amber eyes--I wouldn't exactly call that normal." Hiko snorted. "Besides that, you make your living killing people."

Kenshin's eyes narrowed. "I'm not going to kill for a living anymore." He added, "Not that I need to justify myself to /you/."

Hiko rolled his eyes. "Maybe you have a little sense in that demon-like head of yours after all."

Kaoru knocked on the door and waited for someone to answer it. She tried to ignore the strangely loud sound of Sanosuke and Megumi making out behind her, but it was getting so embarrassing that she was beginning to contemplate sticking her fingers in her ears. 'I'm happy for them, really,' Kaoru told herself. 'I just wish they'd /get a room/!'

The door opened, and Kaoru stood for a moment in stunned silence then whooped for joy and threw herself into Kenshin's arms. "You're okay!"

"Oro!" came a strange surprised sound from Kenshin, who could do nothing but hug her back.

"Hey, Kenshin," came Sano's genial voice. "Glad to see you up. Oh, by the way, me and the fox are getting hitched, so you'd better offer us a congratulations."

Kenshin made room, dragging Kaoru back with him and uttered another 'oro.' He eyed Sanosuke and Megumi dubiously. "Your not playing a joke on me, are you?" he questioned.

Sanosuke looked slightly offended. "Why would we do that?" 'Notice the we. . .' Kaoru thought and snickered inside her head.

"Because I wouldn't know better since I've been asleep for three days," Kenshin replied, still looking skeptical.

Sanosuke laughed and slapped Kenshin on the back. "I wouldn't lie to you, buddy."

Kaoru disengaged herself from Kenshin and muttered, "Sure he wouldn't. . ."

Kenshin glanced at her quickly and caught her eye, then smiled shyly. Kaoru blinked her eyes taking a second look at Kenshin. For a moment there, she'd thought his eyes had changed color, but it was probably just a trick of the light. He /was/ wearing a blue shirt after all. Maybe it had just reflected off of his eyes for a moment to make them appear as if they were purple instead of gold. 'Strange,' she thought, then forgot about it and smiled back at him.

"I'm glad to see you up," she said and they followed Megumi and Sano into the living room.

"Ugh," Sano said. "It's mister 'sunshine,'" he said upon seeing Hiko seated on the couch.

"Good to see you, too, rooster-brain," Hiko retorted.

Sano made a face and stuck out his tongue. Megumi rolled her eyes and flicked his arm. "How mature of you," she said. Sanosuke took it seriously at first and became confused. . .

Kaoru laughed and looked at Kenshin, whose face was a study of blankness. Suddenly, his intense eyes were on her, and he reached out and took her hand and pulled her into the kitchen, which was the closest room to the living room.

"Wh-what are you doing, Kenshin?" Kaoru wondered breathlessly just before he turned to her and kissed her on the lips. She melted into him with a small, contented gasp.

A moment later, he pulled away and looked into her eyes for a long time. "Kenshin?" she asked, feeling herself blushing.

"Hiko wants to take me to a psychologist," he said, his tone anything but happy.

"Oh," Kaoru said. "But isn't that good? Maybe they could help you recover your memory."

Kenshin scowled fiercely and retorted acidly, "Who says I /want/ my memory returned?"

Kaoru grasped his arm gently and questioned, "Are you scared of what you'll remember?" She was a little bit frightened of angering him, but instead of reacting as if he was offended, Kenshin blinked.

There it was again; it was almost as if his eyes had changed color for a second. He told her carefully, his violet eyes drawing her in as if she were being hypnotized, "Maybe I am... a little... Will you and Sano go with me, Miss Kaoru?"

Kaoru smiled. "Of course, Kenshin..." 'Wait a sec,' she thought. 'Did he just call me "Miss"?' He had, and that was strange, too, because he'd stopped calling her "Miss" before he'd gone off to find Sanosuke. Now she said, "Although, I should warn you, if you want Sano to come along, then Megumi is probably going to come, too."

Kenshin's eyes changed to gold again as he responded, "Just so long as you are there, Kaoru." He was leaning in to kiss her again, when the door to the kitchen opened, and Sano entered, causing them to back away from each other quickly.

"I thought I saw you two sneak away to the kitchen, but it doesn't look like what you're making is food..." He grinned evilly.

Kaoru blushed and yelled, "Sano!" He laughed and retorted, "Is there going to be a shot-gun wedding with Hiko as the priest? I'll bet it'll be fun..." He began humming "Here Comes the Bride", and Kaoru decided that she would start chasing him, now.

Kenshin watched them go with a bemused expression. Would he ever understand those two? They worried to death about one another when it came to some outside danger, but then they seemed quite willing to finish each other off all by themselves.

A/N: Heeey... I'm so sorry! Okay, enough of my theatrics. I hope ya'll don't mind this being so short.

Okay, thanks to these reviewers: Dragons Maiden, Brittanie Love, alex, the Nonesuch, and tonkeli. (apologizes for lack of question/comment responses.)

--Blueliath.


	14. Chapter 14

His Only Weakness: Chapter 14

The psychologist's office was really his home. That would account for the two little girls running straight through the living room and nearly running Yahiko down as they flew past. The living room was set up as a waiting room, with couches gathered around a coffee table. On the coffee table were an assortment of magazines, and Megumi snatched one up as she dropped into a sofa.

Sanosuke winked at Kaoru and Kenshin as he dropped down next to Megumi and proceeded to bug her by blowing in her ear and taking her hand. Yahiko sat down next to Hiko, and Kenshin and Kaoru sat on the couch opposite of Sano and Megumi.

Yahiko looked around with narrowed eyes. "I know Kaoru's here to support Kenshin and all... But why did everyone /else/ have to come along too?"

Hiko scuffed him on the back of the head. "/Because/...less than bright son, the rooster head is Kaoru's brother, and the fox-woman is his fiancé. /You/, unfortunately, are /my/ son, Kenshin is my foster-son, and I was the one who set this appointment up in the first place."

Yahiko muttered angrily under his breath then retorted, "I still don't get it."

Kenshin smiled at him gently, and for a moment, his eyes seemed to go from gold to light violet. He said, "I think your father means, Yahiko, that we're all here to support one another... as... sort of a family." He seemed surprised by his own explanation, and he looked toward Kaoru, blinkingly. "Is that right, Miss Kaoru?"

Kaoru smiled with blinding sunny-ness at Kenshin and replied, "That's /exactly/ right. We're family, and we support each other. Isn't that right, Sano?"

Sano started, abandoning his teasing of Megumi and questioned astutely, "Huh?"

Kaoru chuckled, even as Yahiko snickered loudly, and Sano gave him a death-glare. Yahiko was saved by an older gentleman's entrance from another room, probably the office.

"Hello. It's good to see you again, Hiko," the doctor said. To the group he announced, "It's nice to meet you all. I'm Doctor Gensai, and..." He looked toward where Kenshin sat. "You must be Kenshin. Would you and... Kaoru? ... like to come into my office?"

Kenshin rose, taking Kaoru's hand and lifting her up along with him. "Yes, It's nice to meet you, Doctor Gensai," he answered politely.

Kaoru was flushed, Yahiko couldn't help but notice, and he also noticed--as he glanced between her and Kenshin swiftly--that Kenshin's eyes had momentarily returned to that odd shade of purple once again.

'Weird...' Yahiko thought, as the couple disappeared into the psychologist's office. 'I wonder what /that/ means.'

"Please, have a seat," Dr. Gensai proffered, gesturing for Kenshin and Kaoru to sit on the long couch in the center of the office. They sat, and Dr. Gensai took the sofa across from them.

Kaoru fidgeted nervously, and glanced toward Kenshin, wondering if one of them was expected to speak first. The psychologist solved the problem by saying, "Your father has told me a bit about your problem, Kenshin. He says you lost your memory some time ago due to an injury to the head... Would you care to add anything to that?"

Kenshin was silent for a moment, considering. "No," he answered finally, "That is pretty straight-forward."

Dr. Gensai licked his lips and commented, "He also said there was some sort of... sign of your old personality returning...? Are you beginning to recall events or even vague impressions?"

Kaoru suddenly remembered the other day when Kenshin's eyes had looked to be turning colors. Was that what Hiko had meant? Her thoughts were interrupted by Kenshin's answer. "I... no. I said something that was...familiar--an exclamatory expression." Kenshin blushed a little, and Kaoru wondered what he could be embarrassed about. "It sounded like...'oro'," he continued, half under his breath as if it were just too humiliating to say in a full voice.

The doctor chuckled and said, "You're not the first one to have some strange expression... I've heard of others..." He grew serious. "Perhaps this was something you used to say frequently before you lost your memory?"

"Perhaps," Kenshin said, noncommittally.

Kaoru lost her patience, all of a sudden. "Does that mean Kenshin's memory is coming back? Is there some way he can bring it back fully?"

Dr. Gensai smiled at her, like a grandfather smiling kindly, "Actually, I think that's /quite/ possible." He paused, a dark look passing over his features. "It could be dangerous, but if Kenshin were to return to the place where most of those old memories originated, then they might surface."

"Dangerous?" Kenshin wondered, echoing Kaoru's worried thougths. "How?"

"You could have a mental breakdown," Gensai told him plainly. "The memories could prove too much for you... but," he smiled, "That is only if you remembered anything at all," he added, ominously, "It is also possible that nothing will come back to you...ever."

Back at the house, the group that had gone to Dr. Gensai's discussed their course of action. The main topic was: Should Kenshin go to this hypothetical place, or should he not risk remembering? And if he did risk it, where would it be best for him to go?

"The old house," Hiko said, broodingly, "Where Kenshin and I used to live. That would have the most memories for him."

"But... What about the people who tried to kill you?" Kaoru wondered. "Do you think they would still be looking for you there?"

Kenshin shook his head. "Not after so long... Not when they probably still think we're both dead."

Sanosuke nodded, and said, "So, did you want to go, Kenshin?"

Kenshin blinked at Sanosuke in surprise, as if this whole time he hadn't realized the decision was up to him. "I--" he began falteringly. A moment later, he said, firmness taking the place of uncertainty, "Yes. I want to remember. I think... it would help me... become more whole."

Kaoru smiled sadly, but with pride, at his brave statement, and tentatively took his hand. He gazed at her for a long time, long enough for Yahiko to start making groaning noises at the mushiness. Kaoru blushed and broke the gaze, and Hiko said, "Well, why not go now... There's still time today, and it's not too far from here."

"Will you still remember where it's at?" Kenshin wondered, and Hiko gave him a "look".

"Do you think /you/ should be asking /me/ that, considering, stupid foster son?" He answered bitingly. Kenshin said quite plainly for the whole room to hear, "Oro..." then began muttering evilly under his breath.

Some minutes later, they were breaking into Kenshin and Hiko's old house. Kaoru stared out over the street, nervously. Hiko /had/ remembered where the house was located, but he hadn't remembered if he still had a key or not, or even where it might be if he did. They hadn't thought about, until they actually reached the house, if it was lived in /now/ or not, but it was lucky for them that the house looked like it had been abandoned for quite awhile.

Still, Kaoru didn't feel quite right about breaking and entering, even if the house /was/ unoccupied. It was evening now, so at least that lent her a bit of comfort. It would be easier to avoid notice in the dark.

"Got it," Sano said, and Kaoru turned to see her brother grinning wickedly, and Hiko scowling at him, probably because his pride had been injured from Sano being able to open the door instead of him.

"I'm not even going to /ask/ where you learned to do that, rooster-head," Megumi snapped at her husband-to-be. He merely smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his neck. Kaoru shook her head, knowing the kind of friends Sano liked to hang out with.

The only one of them that she'd actually liked, and even kind of looked up to as another older brother, was that artist Katsuhiro, or Tsunan Tsukioka as he liked to call himself for a pseudonym when he signed his work. He'd told her once that it just looked better than his real name, and she had laughed.

But even Katsu was a bit of a trouble-maker... He used to finagle Sano into helping him make home-made bombs. One time, Sano had returned home with his eye-brows singed off a bit. She'd laughed at him when they'd grown in extra-thick... What had she called them? Caterpillars! That was it.

Kenshin must have seen her expression because he questioned, looking a bit bemused, "What is it?"

"Oh, just thinking about a couple of caterpillars I once saw," she said, a bit loudly, for Sano's benefit.

As they entered the house, he swiveled around to glare at her, and she giggled. "Brat," he said, and proceeded to ignore her.

Kenshin seemed to realize it was an old joke, and smiled along with her even if it was with a bit of confusion. Kaoru promised, "I'll tell you later, okay?" And his eyes brightened to purple for a moment. 'So strange... Didn't Hiko say that that's the way they used to look...?'

"I guess," Hiko said, shutting the door behind him, "We should look in my office first." Something about the way he said that was rather grim, but if anyone else noticed, they still went ahead and followed him and Kenshin without any hesitation.

The office seemed to have been left the way it had been last, with just a bit of clearing out of any personal touches. There was furniture at least, and probably the same furniture that Kenshin and his foster-father had used when they had lived there. Would that be enough to spark some memory in Kenshin?

Kenshin seemed to shake his head at Kaoru's thought and said, strangely cold-sounding again for the first time in a while, "I'll go look at the rest of the house."

Hiko's gaze snapped to him then, as if he'd heard something in that coolness that meant something to him. "What is it? Does something bother you about this room?"

Kenshin glared, amber eyes practically glowing. "No. I just don't think I'll remember anything standing here doing nothing. I'm going to look around some more."

"This is the room where you were shot," Hiko said, relentlessly. "Where I was shot."

Kaoru felt blood draining from her face, and Sano made an odd, nearly-strangled sound of protest. Yahiko edged toward Megumi, probably sensing the swiftly mounting tension, and she put an arm around him, comfortingly. The room, if it wasn't Kaoru's imagination, had suddenly gotten very chilly.

Kaoru and Sano knew better, and more intimately, than anyone else that this was not the best way to get Kenshin to remember. They had their own demons when it came to how their father had died, and even the mention of guns could make Kaoru's stomach do strange flip-floppy things. If Kenshin had some bad memory connected to fire-arms then it was /not/ a good idea for Hiko to prod it out of him. He might have that nervous breakdown that Gensai had warned about so ominously.

So maybe that was why, before Kenshin could even retort, Sano snapped angrily, more angrily than Kaoru had heard him in a long while, "I know you mean well, but maybe you should just back off—/_okay/_?"

Hiko actually blinked with surprise, snorted then shrugged. "Alright then, stupid foster son, go have a look at the rest of the house..." he relented, surprising everyone else.

Kenshin seemed to relax, and Kaoru breathed a quiet sigh of relief and followed him out of the room, Sano, Megumi and Yahiko coming behind them. Hiko, probably facing demons of his own, chose to stay in the office.

Sano edged up beside Kaoru and asked quietly, hopefully quiet enough for no one else to hear, "Hey, are you okay, missy?"

"Fine..." Kaoru replied, wispily. "I mean, I feel sick, but what can you do, huh? It's never gonna go away in my head, it really isn't. I'm always going to freak out when I hear the word 'gun' or pass out at the sight of blood..."

"Come on, missy," Sano protested, "You're stronger than that." He draped her shoulders with an arm and pulled her closer. She squeaked a little, but he ignored her. "We can't help what we saw, Kaoru... I mean... Dad...he just--" he broke off, knowing he was that close to crying.

He saw Kaoru's eyes water in response, and she mumbled, her voice sounding thick, "There was just so much blood, Sano... And I thought--'That can't be Daddy...no, it can't be hi--'" She broke off, and he knew she'd done it for the same reason he had.

They were far behind the rest now, in one of the hallways of Kenshin's old house. "That guy... the cop--he meant to kill us too, Kaoru. That's why Dad told us to hide... Why he told us not to come out of the bedroom for anything... I shouldn't have made you sneak out with me, I shouldn't ha--" he choked up again and stopped.

"Sano!" Kaoru berated him softly, "How could you think that was your fault...? I wanted to help him as much as you... to see what was going on. God, I wish I hadn't now, but isn't it better for us to know for sure? Instead of going on living in a fantasy world, not believing that he was really dead?"

The look of horror on Sano's face must have showed plainly, because Kaoru groaned a bit at her own idiocy and apologized, "I shouldn't have said that... I'm sorry."

"It's okay, Kaoru, we've both been under a lot of stress lately... Just because the worst is over now, doesn't mean we're not still feeling it." He sounded a bit resigned, and that was very unlike himself.

Kaoru must have heard it in his voice, because she looked up at him with worried blue-eyes. "Are you okay, Sano?"

He nodded, slightly. "I don't like the way Kenshin's story is so close to ours. It's making me..."

"Attached," Kaoru finished for him, and he chuckled, knowing full well how attached _she_ was getting.

"Yeah, I guess, but it bothers me, you know. First his parents die...shot, and then Hiko gets shot, and Kenshin /thinks/ he's dead... I could've ripped Hiko's throat out back there..." He shuddered slightly at his admission, and Kaoru patted the hand that was draped over her shoulder.

"I know what you mean... When I first saw Kenshin's gun, I went all lady of vengeance on him. I didn't think that I had it in me, up until then, to tell off a deadly assassin." She smiled wryly, and Sano blinked with surprise.

"You told him off?" he wondered, curious about what exactly she'd said.

"Heh, I told him guns were evil and that I'd rather die than use one to save myself... I must have sounded insane, and he... he respected me for it." It was almost like she was realizing that for the first time, the way she sounded so amazed.

"It's no wonder," Sano couldn't help but joke, "He's not all there himself, you know?"

Kaoru broke away and punched his arm, and Sano laughed and caught up with Megumi. Kaoru's voice drifted to him from somewhere behind him, "Jerk..." But there was no mistaking that affectionate note in it, and it momentarily warmed that cold place inside.

"Teasing the raccoon again, Sano?" Megumi wondered, probably noticing his grin.

"Just having a little heart-to-heart talk," he answered honestly enough, taking her hand. When she smiled, he found that that cold place warmed just a bit more.

A/N: Okay, I think that I will end this chp. there. Seems like a good place, and I promised myself I would put this thing up half finished if I had to just so I would get it done by now. Well, I'd better go before my computer's hissing escalates to something more dangerous than idle threats.

Basic thank-you's to Gaby Hyatt, Angel of Lonelyness, and Brittanie Love for reviewing. You guys are awesome.

Kik-ting: That's okay. I'm guilty of the same thing, and it /has/ been a really long time since I updated. Thank you, I like using Sano's character for comedy moments. Heh, it is and I haven't figured out why they sleep so long either.

Tonkeli: Thanks! ::Beams:: I'm sorry about things going so fast... I'm the impatient sort. Heh. I'll try to do better, but the story is almost over. ::sigh::

legolasestelstar: thanks a bunch. I don't know if he's dead, and I haven't thought about a sequel either, but if there ever is one, I'll make sure it /says/ that's what it is.

Southpaw: I'm so sorry! ::knocks self in head:: thank you for the review and I'll try to update more regularly from now on. Hmmm, that's top-secret information, but I can say for sure that Kenshin's eyes will go back to violet.

Well, thanks again everyone, hope you enjoyed this chp, and talk to you later. Blueliath.


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Rurouni Kenshin... I forgot to say it the last two times, but it still goes, anyway.

---Hiko: Stupid apprentice.--

His Only Weakness Chapter 15 

Kenshin wandered into one of the bedrooms and glanced around... It was nagging at him, all of this, but not one little memory had managed to make its way to the top. He was beginning to think it was just a bunch of foolishness...

"Kenshin?" A timid voice interrupted his reverie. It was Kaoru, standing in the doorway and watching him with a peculiar expression in her dark-blue eyes. Kaoru—she seemed like one of the few good things that had happened to him in his whole, dark life. A nasty, lingering part of himself whispered that she was possibly one of the only things that could end up getting him killed—a weakness...something to get rid of or break away from.

But he couldn't. He couldn't even have stopped himself from kissing her those two times, how could he even try to leave her, or Sanosuke, for that matter? Although he was in no way in love with the tall youth, he had become as fond of him as if he were Kenshin's own brother. And then there was Yahiko to think about as well... Someone else he was fast becoming attached to. 'Attached...attachments,' Kenshin thought, 'When did I become such an idiot?'

"Kenshin..." Kaoru said, coming into the room to stand beside him and lay her hand on his jacket-sleeved arm. "There's something... I want to tell you something. Maybe it will help, maybe it won't, but it's something that _/I/_ need to get off my chest, too..."

Kenshin looked at her sharply, wondering what this could be about. "What is it?" he questioned, tucking a lock of hair behind Kaoru's ear that had escaped from that ponytail she always kept it in.

Kaoru blushed lightly, but continued nervously, "When Sano and I were kids...I was twelve and he was fourteen... our father, Souzou Sagara, died..." She seemed to be having trouble getting it out, and all of that information packed into one sentence was probably just her version of stalling. "We had a visitor, another police officer, a detective, I think. I think Dad called him "Shindo"... you'd think I'd forget that name after such a long time, but I still remember..." She stared at the floor and shook her head as if shaking something loose from it then looked back up at him with a false smile. "Dad spied the cop through the window when he knocked... and told Sano and I to go to his bedroom and lock the door. We went but..."

Kaoru seemed to take a moment to gather herself together. Kenshin could almost see the scene play out in his head as she continued. The two frightened teenagers had hidden away in their father's room, listening to the intense confrontation going on in the living room.

Two voices, one their fathers, low and so calm it was obviously a mask for fear. "What do you want Shindo?"

A gruff voice, authoritative and menacing, "I came to offer you one last chance to join the Shiranuita."

"I have no interest in your little drug ring, Tatewaki, and I'd as soon turn you in if I didn't dislike the idea of ratting on fellow officers." Now Souzou's voice was cold with his open contempt.

"Drug ring..." Shindo laughed. "We merely take the money attained from the drugs. I wouldn't call that a drug ring."

"Whatever you call it, I want no part of it. Now if you're through trying to convince me, get out of my house and don't /_eve/r_ come back. You're not welcome here."

"Very well..." Shindo said, sounding as if he were giving in... Sano cracked the bedroom door open and began sneaking out down the hall.

Kaoru pulled on his sleeve and hissed at him to stop. He shook off her hand and whispered, "I'm just going to see what's happening, Kaoru. Don't be such a baby."

After a fearful, indecisive moment, Kaoru decided to follow. "Sano, wait..." she begged and ran after him down to the very end of the hall. She peered with her brother around the corner at the scene playing out in the living room.

Her father and the strange cop were standing in front of each other. The mustached man with long, graying hair smiled and turned away from her father, and began walking for the hallway that led out to the front door.

Souzou turned away and started approaching the hallway that Sano and Kaoru were hiding in. Sano gave a quiet yelp and started running back to the room; they weren't supposed to be outside of it, after all. But Kaoru was in his way and there was a fumbling moment that lasted long enough for her to catch a movement from behind Sano that wasn't their father.

The other police officer was turning, a vicious smile on his face and a glock in his hand, pointed at... their father! Sanosuke must have seen the look on her face; he turned around just as they heard the thundering blast of Shindo's gun. Their father fell face forward onto the carpet, shot in the back...

Kaoru nearly screamed, but Sano's hand covered her mouth. She looked up at him, and saw her round eyes echoed by his. Blood spread across the back of Souzou's shirt... Kaoru had never seen so much blood in her life...

"After that, Shindo just walked out...like he didn't even care to frame Dad." Tears rolled down Kaoru's cheeks, and her voice was clogged sounding. "I don't know what happened to him, but Sano called nine-one-one... But our Dad was already gone by the time the paramedics and the police got there."

"D-didn't they try to find this Shindo?" Kenshin wondered, feeling her pain as if it were his own.

Kaoru shook her head and sniffled. "They asked us what happened, but I was in shock or something—not talking to anyone. And Sano... Sanosuke wouldn't talk to the police. I don't think he trusted them... We both thought that they could be a part of that group...the Shiranuita." She frowned. "Th-that's why I hate guns so much, Kenshin...and why Sano's so angry inside, you know?"

Kenshin gazed into the dark-blue mirror to her soul, and thought he understood. Maybe he did... Hadn't Hiko said that he'd been shot in front of Kenshin? What if, somewhere inside, he still remembered that? Maybe that's why Kaoru had said that telling him her story might help him.

"Maybe Shinomori can find this man, Shindo," Kenshin said. "Perhaps that would bring some peace for you and Sano."

Kaoru's eyes widened. "I-I hadn't thought of that..." She looked away. "Kenshin... Will you... come back to your father's office with me?"

He stiffened. "Why?" he questioned suspiciously. There was just something about that room that made him feel uncomfortable. Maybe it was knowing what had happened there...maybe not.

"Maybe... Maybe it will bring back something. I know you think it's pointless, but... Hiko could tell you what happened again," Kaoru said carefully.

The door cracked open and Yahiko peeked into the room. "Hey, Ugly and Assassin...what'cha doin' all alone in here? Making out?"

Kaoru blushed, and Kenshin answered quietly, unusually patient with the young boy, "Just talking. Have you seen any old things that might have belonged to Hiko or me?"

"Nothing," Yahiko said with a shrug, he seemed to sense the serious atmosphere and ceased his teasing. "Hey, K-Kaoru... you okay? You look like you were crying or somethin'..."

Kaoru smiled and went to ruffle Yahiko's already messy hair. "I'm just fine, but thanks for asking. Let's go see what your dad's up to, okay?" Yahiko nodded and they went out into the hall. After a last glance at the room, Kenshin followed.

They found Seijuro sitting on a plastic-covered couch in the living room. Sanosuke and Megumi sat next to him talking to each other softly. The three looked up as the rest entered, and Hiko questioned, "Remember anything?"

"Just how annoying you are," Kenshin retorted then sat with Kaoru on the coffee table. Yahiko sat on the edge of the couch arm beside Megumi.

"Please tell us what happened again, Mr. Hiko," Kaoru requested politely, and Kenshin stared at her. He wasn't exactly angry, but the feeling in the pit of his stomach wasn't a very nice one.

"There's not much to tell that I haven't already said... I was shot in the gut and passed out. I woke up sometime later, and the guy was gone and Kenshin was on the floor, his head covered in blood..."

Kenshin stiffened and questioned harshly, "You didn't even check to see if I was still breathing?"

Hiko's eyes fastened on him sharply. "I was suffering from blood loss and irrational with shock..."

"You should have checked!"

Kaoru started at his outburst, and he felt sorry he had reacted so strongly. "Kenshin..." Hiko started out as if he was going to explain, but then he shook his head--scowled. "Idiot. Do you think I wanted to stick around waiting for my enemies to return and make sure they had finished the job right?"

Kenshin jumped to his feet. "You coward! You just left me there because you didn't want any baggage with you while you ran away. An injured kid wasn't something you wanted to drag along with you—/**was it/**?!"

Hiko stood also, towering over Kenshin. "How many times do I have to tell you, stupid foster son? **I. Thought. You. Were. Dead**!"

"I wasn't!" Kenshin yelled, his voice nearly breaking. He hated to hear himself like this, but now that the floodgate had opened it was going to be pretty darned hard to close it again. "I was just out cold... I woke up, and..." He remembered. He woke up and Hiko was gone. His foster father had just left him... Just like that.

He'd known it was too good to be true when Hiko took him back to live with him. His parents had been murdered; he'd hidden in that closet...his favorite hiding spot. He'd heard the gunshots, and had been too afraid to go out and see... But he'd known, because after what seemed like hours had gone by, neither of his parents had come to get him.

And then the door opened, and he'd started awake... Feeling fear that the stranger had returned to kill /him/, but it had been a police-man... Hiko had taken him home, tried to get him to come out of his shell... He'd been too afraid to live at that point. Finally, he'd been drawn out of his fear, and his relationship with Hiko had grown when the cop had them take self-defense classes together. And then when Kenshin was older, nearly seventeen, Hiko had even taken him out to the shooting range—that was how he'd learned to use a gun.

And then that fateful evening, when the visitors had come to see Hiko, he'd been in his room, doing homework ... And when the gunshot was fired, he'd run into his father's study, seen him on the floor for one split second, the front of his shirt covered in blood. Then something, maybe a shadow, maybe a sound had warned him, and he'd turned and jumped to the side at the sight of black metal, dark eyes... And then darkness, and waking up to an empty office.

Hiko gone, his father gone... Knowing he'd left and would not return. It had been too much right then. He'd already lost both parents... He couldn't comprehend this; he didn't want to believe his foster father had left him, too. And somehow everything had been blanked out... all the bad memories buried away somewhere so that he could handle life. A last-ditch effort to keep on going.

"I knew you left me..." Kenshin said, his voice devoid of emotion. "I couldn't take it... I guess I blocked it all out somehow. Why?" he questioned hoarsely. "Why did you just leave me?" He made an effort to look up at the tall man now. Look into those cool blue eyes. Perhaps he'd find the truth there.

Hiko shook his head. "Oh..." his voice broke slightly, then he sighed. "Kenshin, I would never have left if I'd been in my right mind, if I'd known you were still breathing, but it didn't occur to me to check. You're head was covered in blood, and the only thing I could think was that they would never in a thousand years have left you living."

Kenshin thought perhaps the truth of it was really there to see. He sank back onto the coffee table, suddenly very dizzy, but... glad too. His father hadn't just abandoned him; he really hadn't. "I...I believe you."

----Kenshin: ororororororo-----

When Kenshin said, "I believe you," Kaoru sighed with relief, and cast Sano a happy smile. He grinned back at her, and she turned her attention back to Kenshin. He looked up then, and smiled a wobbly grin at Hiko. His eyes were violet, and there was no mistaking it for a trick of the light this time.

"My goodness," Megumi exclaimed, and Hiko dropped back onto the sofa that seemed way too small for him. "His eyes!"

"P-purple..." Hiko muttered. "Just like they used to be. You remembered?" Kenshin nodded, his face grave now, but his eyes still amethyst.

"First gold, now purple..." Yahiko grumbled, "Why do you have to be so weird, Kenshin?"

Kenshin laughed--laughed?--nervously, and rubbed the back of his neck. "Are you worried that I'll scare off one of your girlfriends, Yahiko?" he teased.

"G-g-girlfriends?" Yahiko spluttered, and turned dark red.

Megumi and Kaoru giggled, and Sano teased also, "Aw, little Yahiko is too young for girlfriends, Kenshin. He's probably just worried that it's genetic, and Kaoru's children will end up being all weird eyed and stuff."

"Hey!" Kaoru and Yahiko both protested, and Sanosuke snickered. "Two in one," he said proudly, but Megumi smacked him upside the head, and he whined, "Hey! Why'd you do that?"

"Stop it, or you'll hurt Mister Ken's feelings, dummy," Megumi snapped.

"Aww, you know I didn't mean anything by it... right Kenshin?"

Kenshin smiled happily and held up his hands, "I won't get involved, that I will not. I plead neutral."

"Heh," Yahiko said, "Not possible with that big lunk-head," he aimed at Sano, and Sanosuke growled at him and got up to kick Yahiko's butt. As Yahiko sprinted for the door taunting, "Hahah, can't catch me!" Kaoru couldn't help but see the irony of /Kenshin/ not getting involved in a fight.

--Yahiko ugly, ugly, ugly!--

"So," Misao said to the group gathered around the living room of the safe house. "Mister Aoshi has promised to marry me when I'm old enough." They'd been talking about what had transpired up to that point and all their separate plans for the future now that things had calmed down some.

'Weird,' Kaoru, who was lingering on the last step of the staircase, contemplated, 'If Aoshi-sama is like an uncle to me, then that would make Misao my aunt when she marries him." She sweat-dropped.

"You know," Megumi said thoughtfully, "That's not such a bad idea."

Sano blinked and glanced at her sharply. "What's that supposed to mean?" he questioned cautiously.

Megumi gazed at him steadily. "Well, you're still young, Sano. You really don't want to go rushing into marriage, do you? I mean, you still have college to finish, and then what would you do if I got pregnant, and you had to support the baby and me? I'm not sure if you're ready for all of that yet."

Sanosuke's mouth dropped open, and Kaoru wondered how he was going to react after the shock wore off. "I... I hadn't really thought that far ahead..." he admitted.

"Why don't we wait then?" Megumi suggested, "At least until you're out of school... and you have a job you like. It's up to you, but I really think it would be for the best."

Sano frowned in contemplation, and Misao took that moment to tease, "Heh, it's the girl making the /guy/ wait until he's old enough. What a twist." Sanosuke said, "Shut up, you little weasel," and then told Megumi, "You're right... I mean, I still love you, and I know I'll still love you even if I have to wait. So... I will." He smiled then, and Megumi grinned at him.

"I'm so proud of you, you big rooster head, you," she said and gave him a peck on the cheek.

Kaoru sighed to herself and retreated up to the room she was sharing with Megumi and Misao. She lay down on the bed and tried to figure out why she felt so melancholy. There was no reason for it... Everyone was okay, and everything had all been worked out, right?

Then she remembered what Kenshin had said about Mister Aoshi being able to track down their father's killer, and she realized not /everything/ had been worked out, after all. There was still a peace that Sano and she had to attempt to grasp. It might be impossible, it might not. Perhaps Shindo had already met his end and time had dealt its own brand of justice, but in that case, Kaoru still needed to know. She wasn't sure about how Sanosuke would feel about this, but she for one, was going to ask for Mister Aoshi's help...

--Kaoru: "Ken-shin, I-found you!"—

**A/N**: Alright, I'm terrible, and I can't even say that this is on time. The other night I had trouble putting it up, and today (sat) I was just plain being lazy... But, funny thing, falling through the floor tends to bring one to their senses. I hope nothing decides to crawl through that hole tonight. Needless to say, I'm moving my bed to the other room. Heh. :) So, hope you don't despise me too much, and that you all enjoy this chapter.

**Review response:**

**Kik-ting**: Sorry there was no going back in the office. :) But I hope you liked this chp n-e-way, and thanks for the review.

**Legolasestelstar**: Heh, I wish too! Maybe it comes through just a bit in the story, huh? :) Thank you!

**Rath lover**: -Bites lip- Er, first, thank you for the enthusiasm in reviewing, but please next time, (if there is one) keep it to one or two. Thanks again.

**Bradybunch4529**: Hehheh, thanks for the review!

**Brittanie love**: Thank you very much! I'll keep trying to keep my updates regular.

Well, bye everyone and thanks so much for your reviews. They're always so encouraging. Blueliath.


	16. Chapter 16 or Epilogue

**A/N:** Oh, hello minna-san... Remember me? I am so sorry. I hadn't looked at my story in such a long time that I forgot I left it at such an awful cliffhanger.

Oh, and an explanation of the floor thing for any of you who might have worried. (I hope you didn't.) All that happened was that my leg went through a weak spot in the floor and I got bruised up a bit.

Not posting for so long had nothing to do with that, however, so I can't very well use it as an excuse. Heh.

Now I know what I wrote in that last paragraph, but I'm going to end the fic with this chap. But guess what?

Since I really don't believe that Sano would just leave it at that if he knew about his father's killer being out there still, I'm going to possibly do a sequel.

That is if there are enough requests because I'm not really into the rurouni kenshin universe right now, and it would be hard for me to get back in the mind set to write a whole other fic.

Well, that is all for my really, really long author note. I hope you enjoy this last chp. And I'm sorry that it's so short.  
Blueliath.

* * *

_"His Only Weakness" Chapter 16 or Epilogue:_

Kaoru found Kenshin in the backyard watching his father and Yahiko sword practicing. He seemed to sense her presence behind him because, before she could even say anything, he turned and offered her a questioning smile.

"Did you want to talk to me, Miss Kaoru?" he asked.

"Er," Kaoru began awkwardly. "Kenshin, there just seems to be so much stuff left unfinished... Like my father's killer still being out there somewhere..." She trailed off, not really knowing what she was trying to say.

Kenshin nodded, and laid his hand on her shoulder. "I know, that I do... And I plan to help you through every step of it, Kaoru."

She couldn't help the warm feeling that spread throughout her body and couldn't keep her eyes from misting up. "Oh, Kenshin," she sighed gratefully and threw her arms around him.

He squawked his perfunctory "oro", and she whispered to him, "I'm glad that we met, Kenshin."

"I am too, Miss Kaoru," Kenshin answered seriously, "That I am."

* * *

Sano watched his sister and Kenshin through the window, sighed, then dropped the curtain back down. 'I hope they end up together,' he wished fiercely.

God knew, Kaoru deserved a little happiness after all the crap that had happened to her in her past and recently.

But he had been serious when he'd told Megumi that they would wait before _they_ got married. What he'd left out was that he planned to hunt down Shindo before, also.

He didn't know how Kaoru felt about it, but he knew that he would never be able to be at peace until their father's murderer met with justice.

End.


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